Spooksville 25 The Harbingers
by Raving Adelaide
Summary: After four eerily semiquiet years in Spooksville the gang is once again faced with adventure. The Secret Path has opened again and the small ocean side town becomes a refuge for the creatures on the other side.
1. Chapter 1

Spooksville #25 -The Harbingers

**Spooksville #25 -The Harbingers**

**Chapter 1**

For Amy Carter it was just another ordinary day. Ordinary, for she went through the regular routine and actions she usually went through. That is, up until dusk at least.

It was then things got interesting.

The weather wasn't anything too abnormal. Sarnia was usually very warm in mid-June and the humidity was very high because of smog. But there was something that just wasn't right. Dusk was certainly out of the ordinary and it was then that pathetic fallacy took over.

As the sun went down, the sky turned a brilliant orange and a harvest moon appeared. The atmosphere of the city took on an almost sinister feeling and as darkness enveloped it was apparent that it would be a night of many strange and abnormal happenings.

Amy welcomed the odd atmosphere which night began to cascade over the city. She was bored with routine and the weather was certainly no longer routine. Stepping into her backyard Amy went out to absorb the beautiful yet sadistic-looking sunset. It was then she noticed her; a woman, a beautiful woman, meditating in the middle of the garden.

She had long curly black hair, her face was very pale, as white as a statue's, her lips as red as fresh blood. She had to be in her early thirties but appeared ageless. The atmosphere of the night seemed to match the woman's aura perfectly.

"Excuse me," Amy spoke up, taking a few steps forward.

Although a little fearful, Amy was more alarmed and confused. After a few long moments of eerie silence, the woman spoke.

"You should know exactly who I am, Amelia, is that not so?" the woman asked, still in her meditative position.

Her soft yet authoritative voice sharply peaked Amy's uneasiness. The woman was oddly familiar to her and when Amy figured out who the woman reminded her of, her eyes widened and her heart began to pound. She attempted to retain her collected exterior.

"That's it," The woman smiled. Her dark green eyes opened and she looked over at Amy.

She shook her head with authority. "It's not possible," she said.

"Oh, it is," the woman nodded. "All those books a reality - their own reality in fact. It is your biggest dream come true."

Amy sucked in a deep breath; she felt inclined to believe the woman, but to get her mind to grasp that fiction just became reality seemed highly unlikely. _This is crazy._

"Springville…" Amy said slowly, not knowing what else to say.

"Spooksville," the woman corrected. "And I…" she trailed off.

"You're Ann Templeton." _This is crazy._

The witch smiled. "Yes."

Amy looked her over. "Why are you here?" she asked. Her logic was gaining the upper hand. _This is a joke._

The witch stood; her flowing black robe reached the ground and gently swayed in the breeze that was starting to pick up. The entire time she had a smirk on her face which spoke of her unnatural powers and the fear she drove into human and non-human hearts.

"How long has it been since the last book?" she asked, taking a step forward.

"Four years."

"And what happened?" she asked.

Amy thought back. "You left for the Pleiades."

Ann Templeton took another step. "What else?"

"You granted each of the gang a wish. If they wanted to get rid of it, all they had to do is say it aloud to someone," Amy said. "It had to be something they truly wanted though. Adam wished to always know what the right thing to do was. Watch wished to be able to read minds. Cindy wished for the love of the boy she loved. Sally wished for a platinum credit card with an unlimited credit line that never needed to be repaid. And Bryce wished for a spaceship."

The witch nodded once again. "It may surprise some, but even I have morals. Besides not letting Watch wish that I would remain in Spooksville, there is one other limitation to my wish-giving which I failed to mention, and that is to wish to go home. It is dreadful to not know where your home is and even more dreadful to have to wish to be there. I am fortunate to have two homes: the Pleiades and Spooksville. I returned to the Pleiades four years ago but I knew I still had business in Spooksville, which is why I am here now. It is time."

"I don't get it," Amy said. _This has to be a joke._ "Why are you telling me this?"

"You dream constantly about somewhere better, do you not, Amy? You know you do not belong here, you have never felt comfortable here," the witch said. "Am I not right?"

"You're right," Amy said quietly, nodding her head. _Maybe it isn't..._

"No friends. A family that barely exists," Ann went on, gesturing toward the house. Amy felt a familiar ache in her chest. She tried to cover up the pain on her face by looking away from the witch. "It is said home is where the heart is. Where is your heart?" Ann Templeton asked.

Amy knew the witch knew the answer but wanted her to realize it for herself. "Spooksville," she answered softly. And it was the truth.

Paranormality. Danger. Friendship. All the things which made Amy fall in love with the twenty four book series for so many years.

"The series was written over four years, but the characters remained twelve - I don't get it," Amy said. _Screw logic._

The witch chuckled softly. "I felt the need to put their adventures into words so I contacted my husband's doppelganger on this world and relayed all the gang's future adventures to him. The series was actually all published before it really happened," she paused once again. "I felt the need to prepare you. I knew you would be returning."

"I've been there before," Amy mumbled.

Ann nodded her head. "I'm afraid I cannot say anything further, it is not my place to tell you."

Ann Templeton turned away and walked back to her spot in the garden.

"I am granting you a wish," she announced. "You, of course, do not need to make one, but in either case you must understand that everything in this universe carries a price," Ann told her. "Just give me a few minutes to prepare."

Why would the witch do this for her? Amy was so unsure of so many things, but a decision had to be made now. There must have been a reason for an offer of such a tremendous thing, but, it could be a bad reason. Even though she was torn between so many things Amy nevertheless waited in anticipation for Ann to signal for her. When she did, Amy approached cautiously and spoke in her ear.

"I wish to be immortal," she started. "Free from disease, aging and death. I -," suddenly the witch lifted her hand, signaling to her to say no more.

Amy stepped back and waited for her to finish.

"So if I want to get rid of it, all I have to say are the exact words I said to you?" she asked as the witch stood.

"Yes," Ann nodded. "You should have an interesting time with your wish, Amelia, and an even more interesting time adjusting to it."

Amy looked at her. "It was a bad wish?"

The witch hesitated. "No, it is just you need to change physically in order to fulfill your wish. You will never be sick again, your senses will be perfect, you will not have to eat nearly as often since your body will work slower, and you will be constantly be regenerating things in your body that normal humans cannot," Ann smiled softly." Your life will be very different in the morning."

"If I'm in a situation where a normal human would be killed, what happens?" Amy questioned.

"It depends on the situation, but in many cases you will go unconscious so your body can heal. If a bone breaks, it will set itself. If you get burned, no scars will result. The same if you are cut, crushed and anything else that could possibly happen," the witch explained. She took Amy's hand and looked in her eyes, stared deep into her soul. "You have the power to heal; what runs through your veins can heal not only you, but others as well," she warned. Suddenly Ann Templeton became very solemn.

"It is time to go," she announced, letting go of Amy's hand. "We cannot postpone it further."

With the somber look on the witch's face, Amy felt as though there was something Ann was sensing that she could not.

And within seconds Amy felt as though she was being pushed from a high place, pulled up to the heavens and held back all at once. All she could see was white and within seconds once again, everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The gang was walking home past Spooksville's graveyard that night when they found Amy. They found it strange that they discovered her unconscious on Madeline Templeton's grave and they found it even stranger that there were flowers and grass growing beneath her on the witch's eternal tomb. Before that, however, they were talking about Spooksville and its paranormality.

"I find it increasingly interesting how Spooksville has been nearly devoid of the paranormal since Ann Templeton left," Watch mentioned as they started to pass the park which stood next to the cemetery.

If truth be told, Watch looked and acted much the same way he did four years ago. He was taller of course, and his voice was deeper, but otherwise he still had thin blonde hair, thick glasses, and two watches on each arm; each one set to a different time zone in America. He still had a great interest in the sciences and the sky and had an ever-growing interest in Tira Jones, the girl who had been possessed by an orb called a No-One up until four years ago.

When the gang had first met Tira, Watch was utterly captured by her even after she succeeded in possessing Adam and then tried to possess him and then the rest of the small, ocean side town. Her long silky black hair and incredibly dark blue eyes were the main subject of talk for a number of boys in town, but she never pursued anything with anyone; Watch believed it was because she was so shy and reserved, but he wasn't aware of who those traits kept her from.

Actually Tira usually hung out with them, but was not there that particular night, along with George Sanders, another friend of theirs who they had met on the first day of middle school. He had developed quite a bit over the years. Originally awkward and seen as a nerd, George shed his stereotype and gullibility. He was still a very good student, though he had realized that Sally was Sally and he shouldn't take her teasing seriously.

"So do I," Adam chipped in. "There hasn't been a major crisis since the shape shifters."

Originally very insecure about his looks, especially his height, Adam had no reason to now. He was taller than both Cindy and Sally and was nearly Bryce's height. Adam had finally discovered girls, much to Cindy's delight, though he was still rather shy. He indisputably remained the gang's leader over the last four years and continued to have many insightful ideas even though the level of paranormal activity had dropped substantially in Spooksville.

"That's because the witch caused it all. Without her here Spooksville is almost normal," Sally cut in. "Now the town can be spared of the anguish that the Templeton family has inflicted on the innocent for the last two hundred years."

Sally was still very against Ann Templeton; at least that's what she said. The gang knew she really didn't mind the town witch, though she was still afraid of her. Sally hadn't changed too much either. She had long brown hair and dark brown eyes and was fairly tall for a girl. She was still very assertive and loud and continued to have six cups of coffee a day to balance her out, or so she claimed. She and Cindy got along a lot better now; it was good seeing the girls being pleasant to one another on a more regular basis.

"It does seem a bit suspicious," Cindy agreed.

Over the last four years, Cindy had developed into a beautiful young woman. Her long blonde hair and deep blue eyes acted as a magnet for the boys in town. And even though she attracted a great deal of attention, her heart still belonged to Adam. After their last adventure on Titan, Cindy was almost positive that Bryce was for her but she had a significantly abrupt change of heart soon after.

"It may be true that the witch had some sort of influence on the level of paranormality in Spooksville but I doubt she had a substantial effect," Bryce spoke up. "Since Spooksville has been relatively normal and to us that's really abnormal, I'm inclined to believe that something of great importance is going to happen, especially since Ann trained us and told us we'd be protecting Spooksville while she's gone.

Bryce had by far changed the most out of all of them. When he had first met the gang he had been arrogant and self reliant, but as time went on, he sort of became one of them: social and humble and even developed a sense of humor. Now he had receded back to his old reputation of being James Bond-like. He became more arrogant and even more self-relying than he had ever been, plus he turned into somewhat of a womanizer. So when they found Amy in the graveyard, he naturally tried to take charge.

It was then Watch noticed Amy and the dark red flowers growing all around her. At first he thought he was seeing things. He stopped and let the gang walk by as he cleaned his ever-thickening glasses and placed them back on. No, there was still something there.

"Wait," he called. Everyone stopped and turned around.

Adam followed his friend's line of sight and was as surprised as Watch. "Is there someone on Madeline Templeton's grave?"

"Are those flowers?" Cindy asked in disbelief.

Bryce immediately took action by pulling out his lock picking kit from his back pocket to pick the lock on the cemetery's gates. It didn't take long and as he pulled off the chain which held the gates closed, Adam and Watch pushed the gates open. Bryce then rushed over to the young girl who had to be about their age.

"She's alive, just unconscious," Bryce told them, checking her pulse and breathing. "She probably came through the Secret Path," he added, looking up at the witch's tombstone.

"Should we take her to the hospital?" Cindy asked with concern.

"The hospital will just use her for some sort of sick experiment," Sally insisted. "A real sick one. She'll be so mutilated, no one will recognize her. Not that anyone in this dimension will know her," Sally looked over at Watch. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," he answered. But it was apparent there was something.

"I'll take her to my house," Bryce decided as he lifted her carefully.

Watch bent down and picked a few different flowers where no plant had ever grown before. And perhaps was not meant to.

"What do you think this means?" Adam asked.

"I think Bryce is right," Watch said. "Something big is going to happen."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Amy awoke with a start. But it wasn't as if she heard a noise. Other than the soft pounding of her heart, she heard nothing else. It was because she had suddenly remembered within her subconscious what had gone on just before everything went black. Of course at first Amy thought it all to be a dream, at least that's what she kept telling herself. She struggled to remember when she had fallen asleep, but it was to no avail. It was only until her eyes adjusted to the dark that she realized the truth.

She was in Spooksville.

Amy quickly sat up and stared at the gigantic map on the wall to her left which bore the name 'Springville, California.' It looked a lot like how she had pictured Spooksville: with the reservoir and oil wells to the South, the mountains to the East, Pacific Ocean to the West and the hills to the North. She reasoned that no one except someone who lived in Spooksville would have a map to it - it was such a small town.

The map had many details on it, including buildings and such which had been marked and labeled with felt pen. Because it was still so dark, Amy couldn't read the finer hand-written print but it was apparent that whoever had created the map was interested in the town's layout.

Getting out of the strange bed, Amy decided to leave where ever she was. She felt odd being in a stranger's bed, especially one she had never seen. This was Spooksville after all.

Amy opened the bedroom door and exited the room into the hall. Heading toward the front door which she could see from where she stood, Amy walked into an area which was split into a kitchen and family room. It was walking through there that Amy noticed a cute boy sleeping on the couch in the front of the television. As she went to open the front door to leave, Amy paused and turned back. Grabbing the pad of paper and a pen from beside the phone on the kitchen counter, she scribbled 'Thanks' and put the paper on the coffee table. She also took the blanket off the back of the couch and placed it on top of the boy - it was the least she could do. It was then she exited the house in an attempt to get her bearings.

Amy ended up at the ocean. She had never actually seen one before and didn't know how to tell them apart, but Amy assumed what lay before her was the Pacific ocean, just as she had come to terms that she really was in Spooksville. With that thought Amy felt a feeling of intense joy.

Along the way of her journey to the ocean side Amy had also passed a few undisputable Spooksville locations like the Frozen Cow, the chapel, and now she stood beside the very pier that the robotic crabs attacked – or rather the new pier in place of the other, which had been torched by Adam. Plus she could see Ann Templeton's castle on top the high rock cliff to the North. Though it was hard to comprehend how she could have possibly traveled transdimensionally to Spooksville, it was even harder to write off what she had clearly witnessed not only the night before, but now as well.

Because it was Saturday morning, Amy reasoned that she could find the gang at the local bakery. She didn't want to meet them, not just yet; she didn't have the nerve to. Besides, she didn't know what to tell them. Instead she wanted to see them casually around town and meet them at a later date, maybe pretend to have just moved into town with family.

'What else am I supposed to do?' Amy asked herself. 'Walk up to them and say: "you don't know me, but I know a tonne about you from a twenty four book series in another dimension. By the way, your town witch made me immortal."'

Amy wondered if she really was immortal.

As she approached the bakery, which she had stumbled upon, she was disappointed to find the gang was not there. It was still early in the morning, however – eight perhaps. Thankfully the bakery was open though because Amy was hungry and she went in to buy something to eat. It was on her way out and down the street that she was stopped. The handsome, dark-haired boy from the house came up from behind.

It was funny how Amy didn't make the connection as to who he was - perhaps it was because of grogginess or the awe of entering a fairy tale dream. Though who else could the dark, handsome boy be but Bryce Poole?

Amy was surprised by the hand which touched her shoulder and even more surprised when she turned and came face to face with the boy from the house that she had awoken in.

"Hi," Bryce greeted.

Dumbfounded, Amy was unable to greet him back. Instead he went on to introduce himself.

He held out his hand. "The name's Poole," he said. "Bryce Poole."

Amy shook from her paralysis and found it in herself to respond this time. "Amy Carter," she said, shaking his hand.

He was just as she had pictured: tall, intense-looking, dark haired and eyed and incredibly cute. Amy's heart leapt from her chest in anxiety. But she really didn't want to have met him yet, what was she supposed to tell him?

"My friends and I found you last night in the graveyard," Bryce explained. "What were you doing there and why did you suddenly leave this morning?"

_Right, Madeline Templeton's tombstone._ "I-," started Amy, trying to decide what to tell him.

She didn't want to lie, that was for sure.

Amy sighed. "I'm from a place called Sarnia, I'm not from here." She paused. "Actually, I don't know if that's true. I know I've been here before, at least that's what Ann Templeton told me."

"Wait a sec: when did you meet Ann Templeton?"

Amy took a deep breath.

"Let me start from the beginning," she decided. "Prior to traveling here last night, I was in Sarnia, a city. When I was little I used to read a lot and one day I came across a series called Spooksville…"

And so Amy explained it all to him from the books to Ann's appearance to the explanation as to why she just up and left in the early of the morning. When she finished Bryce remained silent, thinking over what she had said. The silence was awfully awkward.

"Funny how the gang was talking about how they wanted to be published when all along they were," Amy spoke up, trying to kill the awkwardness.

Bryce broke his train of thought and looked over at Amy. Unexpectedly, he broke into a rare smile.

"Sally's going to get a kick out of it – that's all she ever talks about," he mentioned. "Of course she'll want to know where her share of the money is, but at least she's got fame and recognition."

Bryce looked down at his watch. "We've got a little over an hour to kill before breakfast," he told her. "Is there anything you'd like to see?"

Amy thought. "The cemetery," she suggested.

Although curious as to why she wanted to go there, Bryce nevertheless led her. They never got to the graveyard though. Instead they ran into Watch; or rather saw him from across the street. He seemed lost in thought and so they had to cross the road to get his attention. Bryce introduced them and immediately went about explaining the situation to Watch.

After he was finished, Watch stood there contemplating the matter. "Why wouldn't Ann come see us…?" he shook his head. "I don't suppose you've seen flowers like this before in your dimension, have you?" he questioned as he pulled the flowers out of his cargo's pocket. He had put them in separate Ziploc bags.

"No," Amy answered, studying the flowers. "But that one looks kind of like a Bleeding Heart and Lily."

Watch separated the flower that Amy picked out. "This flower has an amazing regeneration rate; it re-grew its roots over night," he went on, "Not only that, but when I got home last night I cut off a piece of a petal, just to figure out more about the flower, and when I got up this morning it also re-grew the petal." Watch held the flower up again to show them.

"Why are all the flowers red?" Bryce asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," Watch said, "I was thinking about heading over to the gift shop after breakfast to ask Mrs. Crank to have a look though. She sells them and knows a lot about them. After that I'm heading over to the hospital to see if Dr. Paine is in - I'm sure he would be willing to take a look at them."

"But there's still a question unanswered: Why are there flowers and grass growing on the most dangerous creature ever to live in Spooksville's grave, where there has been no living plants to grow since she was buried?" Bryce asked, referring to Madeline Templeton.

"And where do these flowers come from? Why now?" Watch asked. "And what else is coming through the Secret Path?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

As Adam woke up that morning he knew him and his friends were in for an adventure – just like when they were kids. Well, they were still kids, Adam frequently repeated to himself. But they were about to enter their last year of high school and he couldn't help but wonder what would happen afterwards.

He, Cindy, Sally and Tira arrived at the bakery well after Bryce and Amy met up with Watch. As they sat down it immediately began to dawn that this was going to be a very big adventure.

"This is Amy," Bryce introduced as he slid more into the booth, and closer to Amy who was sitting pressed against the window to make room for everyone at the six person booth.

"Hi," the mysterious girl said as she flashed a nervous smile.

They each greeted her back as the girls sat down and Adam grabbed a chair from a nearby table so that they could all sit together.

There was a moment of silence.

"Well?" Sally demanded. "Would you spill it already? Stop keeping us in suspense."

Watch cleared his throat. "Amy's here because of Ann Templeton."

Everyone looked at Amy and she lowered her head to avoid their stares. "She came to my house. I already knew who she was though."

"How?" Sally snapped, not giving the new girl a chance to go on.

And so, once again, Amy went into the explanation of how she became the newest inhabitant of Spooksville. Sally didn't buy it.

She nodded her head in annoyance. "And you expect us to believe that? Listen sister, we've been through a lot and we haven't exactly had a tremendous amount of luck with pretty strangers such as yourself. I don't know what a good explanation passes for in your dimension, but here yours doesn't cut it."

Bryce intervened. "Sally," he warned.

"It's true," Sally insisted. "Ann Templeton, Jessica, Claree, Nurse Sharon, Savannah, Rula, Leah - your own cousin, Bryce - Tira and especially Cindy," she listed, counting off each name on her fingers.

"Hey!" Cindy exclaimed.

"What?" Sally asked innocently. "At least Tira made up for trying to possess us, you just mooch. The first time we met you, your grandmother tried to kill us while we were trying to rescue your brother from your demented family and since then all you've done is whine and run off in your pajamas to meet native boys in other worlds. And we, being the great, brave people we are, are forced to go save you since we have a moral obligation to protect those who are weaker than us."

Sally was referring to the time a closet monster had grabbed and dragged Cindy off to the realm of Cetine. Of course she had not gone there willingly like Sally told the tale, but Sally would not let the matter rest.

Watch, the quick thinker, pacified Sally by pushing a doughnut in front of her. "Chocolate," he said. Sally glared at him, but nevertheless ate the doughnut in silence. It had become a rare sight to see Sally be so cruel to Cindy, but the scent of a Spooksville adventure was in the air and it awakened Sally's hibernating wit, if one chose to call it that.

Bryce was quick to lighten the mood. "Amy knows all about our adventures," he mentioned.

"How much was written in the series?" Adam asked curiously.

Amy was as Sally had said – pretty. Her thin, straight, light auburn hair was shoulder-length. Like Watch and Bryce she was pale. When Adam looked at her, he was reminded of autumn because of her hair and sky blue eyes; she was even wearing fall colors. Actually, that wasn't the only thing she reminded him of, but he couldn't quite pinpoint who.

He could honestly say he had no intentions of pursuing her, but Bryce did. Adam noticed the way Bryce was so attentive to her like he was to all the girls he took a liking to – and there had been many. Over the last few years Bryce developed the habit of getting into short, meaningless relationships and the worst part was that he liked to keep them that way. His handsome good looks, remarkably innocent smile, and aura of mystery made him a magnet for female attention. Adam wished Amy wouldn't be his next victim because from this moment on, really, they were all she had; it would be a shame if things between her and Bryce soured.

He remembered it had been Bryce's sudden change of heart towards girls that had made Cindy weary of him and the crush she once had. After a nearly paranormal-free summer four years ago, Bryce had his first girlfriend within the first week of grade eight and then another by the time November ended. The time of his dating had dwindled to the point that it wasn't even dating anymore; it was just short flings.

Because the crush on Bryce had been, well, crushed, Cindy's sights were once again focused solely on Adam. Now it wasn't that he didn't think Cindy wasn't a great girl; in fact, she had developed into a remarkable and gorgeous young woman. He often caught himself trying to get a glimpse into her beautiful, wide blue eyes and had to use all his will power so that he wouldn't do something irrational.

Adam was no fool; he knew he liked Cindy as she liked him, but it would be unfair if he asked her out since he had feelings for someone else as well. He had no idea what to do and he realized how complicated the predicament Cindy must have been in and the confusing feelings associated with it.

Adam stopped his train of thought and came back to reality as Tira spoke. "Are the books even accurate?"

Bryce was at a lost. He looked to Amy who shrugged. "Ask me anything."

"Where did the robotic crabs first attack?" Tira asked.

Amy didn't even pause. "At the beach beside the pier."

"Who turned me into a vampire?" Cindy questioned, not going easy on the newcomer. It would be absurd to say that Cindy was not jealous of Amy; her teen years had not softened this tendency towards fellow pretty girls and especially those who hung around her boys.

Again Amy answered immediately. "Ted Tane."

Sally swallowed the last of her doughnut. "What did Adam try to do when he was possessed and he tied Cindy and me to a tree?" She smiled smugly at Adam.

"Hey!" Adam exclaimed. He felt violated; Sally had promised to keep it a secret. When the No-ones showed up in Spooksville, one had possessed Adam and he ended up tying Sally and Cindy to a tree so they could be possessed as well. The girls escaped in time, and since then Sally swore she saw Adam try to kiss Cindy. Of course it had been her wild imagination, but Adam believed her; he didn't remember a thing when he was possessed.

Adam was quick to get revenge. "What did Sally and Sally Two talk about on the way to get help for Watch?"

Sally glared at him. She wasn't so smug now. "OK, OK," she turned back to Amy and thought up a new question. "What was the name of the girl Adam left behind in Kansas?"

Adam shook his head. Amy suppressed a smile. "The only friend he had that was a girl named Denise, but they weren't romantically involved."

"Yeah," Cindy cooed. "You have nothing to worry about."

"I wasn't worried," Sally said as she reached for another doughnut.

Even Watch seemed interested in her knowledge of them. "Why do I always wear four watches?" he asked.

Amy shifted uneasily. "They're set to the four different time zones in America to know what time it is for each member of your family."

Watch nodded softly and looked out the window again, lost in thought. Adam knew he was worried that Amy knew more than he wanted anyone to know about the situation with his family. Watch was a very private person

Tira broke the awkward silence. "What about the flowers you picked, Watch? Did you find out anything about them?"

He looked over at her and retrieved the flowers from his pocket, setting them down on the table. "I couldn't figure out much; I tried looking them up on the internet, but none of them have been discovered, at least not in this dimension. Since there isn't much that hasn't already been discovered in this area, if anything, I'm inclined to believe these plants came from the Secret Path. I mean, people settled here hundreds of years ago and if these flowers thrive in a graveyard they would have been discovered a long time ago."

"We knew that already," Sally said dully.

Watch glanced at her. "But I proved it. And I also discovered a few odd characteristics about the flowers that may help us understand the dimension beyond Madeline Templeton's tomb. The more we know before we walk through, the better."

"Who decided we're using the Secret Path?" Sally demanded.

"What did you discover?" Tira asked.

"Chlorophyll is the substance in plants that allows photosynthesis to happen and photosynthesis is the process of using sunlight and water to produce nutrients for plants to grow and survive. Usually plants are green because there's a lot of chlorophyll, which is green. Plants that are not green, but red, like all the ones in the cemetery, have a higher level of anthocyanins, which is another pigment. And there's a reason for more anthocyanins than chlorophyll." Watch paused and looked around at each of them. "It's unusual to see so many different red pigmented plants together, but it's been theorized that in the time of the dinosaurs the dominant plant species was red because of all the sunlight. When the theoretical meteor hit, the sun was blocked and plants needed more chlorophyll to be able to survive. Only then did plants turned green."

"I thought you said you didn't know much," Bryce muttered.

Cindy's face fell. "Dinosaurs again?" she asked exasperatedly.

The gang had already dealt with dinosaurs. Four years ago the Secret Path had opened up to the past. Spooksville had been founded on land that was unstable in space and time, so when a volcano exploded millions ago, it opened a portal in the present. Adam and his friends had to set up an alien bomb to vent the volcano out so that the main explosion would never occur. The gang did not want to see the dinosaurs again, especially Cindy who had been carried off by a mother Pterodactyl to feed her young.

"What happened four years ago can't be happening now," Bryce refuted. "The rip in time occurred beyond the mountains because that's where the location of Madeline Templeton's grave was that many millions of years ago. The most unstable place in Spooksville now lies in the cemetery and that's where the new dimension is connected to ours."

Watch thought a moment. "True, but perhaps the dimension connected to ours is presently going through the prehistoric period. Maybe the dimension beyond the Path is just similar to the prehistoric period."

"The portal four years ago was huge but this one is really tiny in comparison, right?" Cindy asked.

"Probably," Bryce told her. "Last time when you were in the vicinity of the portal you could see through to the past. This portal should be no bigger than it is when you use the Secret Path normally."

Sally rolled her eyes. "Oh please, there's nothing normal or consistent about the Secret Path."

Cindy breathed. "So that means dinosaurs can't come through then?"

"Not to scare you, but some dinosaurs would be small enough to fit through; that is, if the Secret Path is held open and there are dinosaurs," Watch said.

"So you think we should go through the Secret Path?" Adam asked Watch.

"Not yet," he answered. "I think we should split up and visit the hospital and gift shop. I want to know more about these flowers before we leave."

Adam was about to object when Watch caught his eye. "That sounds like a good idea," he lied, although he figured Watch had one or two things to discuss about Amy who had remained silent through the rest of their conversation.

It was decided that Bryce, Cindy and Amy would go to the gift shop and the rest of them would go to the hospital. Adam was not surprised by the way Watch chose the groups.

Before they parted Watch handed them one of the flowers and the two groups said goodbye. As soon as they were out of hearing range Sally began complaining. "I don't trust her. With our luck with strangers you know she's got to be evil."

Adam was quick to defend her. "You don't even know her."

"My point exactly."

Adam sighed. He was about to go on when Watch turned to Tira. "Do you sense anything about her?" he asked cautiously.

Although still somewhat reluctant to discuss her possession, Tira had settled into twenty-first century nicely. As a result she was more willing to be open about herself and the sensitive powers she retained after the no-one had been driven from her. "No," she said. "But there's something familiar about her; it's so subtle that I can't figure it out."

"I got that same feeling," Adam muttered.

"Why are we even going to the hospital and the gift shop?" Sally complained. "You already know stuff about the flowers."

"I want Dr. Paine's opinion; he studied botany briefly in University."

They arrived at the hospital to find it busy. The waiting room was packed with people. Adam, Watch, Tira and Sally stood there for only a minute before they caught sight of Dr. Paine, the doctor who had helped the gang while the vampires had invaded.

He looked up at them as they approached him. "You always seem to show up when there's a crisis," he said. At least he remembered them. "No broken bones this time?" He had also been the one to set and cast Bryce's broken leg after he was a hit by a van.

"No, sir," Adam said. "What do you mean crisis?"

"Well as you can see we're busy today," the doctor said, surveying the room. "Many of the witnesses to the attacks describe a reptilian squirrel as the inflictor of the wounds. I can't say I believe them, but you kids figured out what was happening to those people a while back, maybe this is similar."

"Not likely, those were vampires that invaded four years ago," Sally said darkly.

Dr. Paine just glanced at her sternly. Watch decided to take control. "Sir, I was wondering if you could analyze some plants for me again."

A confused look came over the doctor. "I thought school would have ended already."

"It has," Watch agreed. "This is just for my own personal knowledge."

Dr. Paine thought a moment. "I suppose I could as long as all the patients remain stabilized and no one else comes in."

As he led them to his office, Watch described each flower's characteristic, but leaving out what he believed to be the origins of the plants. Watch decided it was for the best since Dr. Paine was a logical man and refused to believe in the paranormal and the like. He had been the same way when the vampires had come to town.

Taking the flower from Watch, the doctor left.

"The guy thinks we're insane," Sally muttered.

"He's still helping us," Watch said.

"Not you; he loves you, you're his dream child." Sally rolled her eyes.

"Red plants and reptilian squirrels?" Adam thought aloud. "Maybe the prehistoric era _is_ just beyond Madeline Templeton's tombstone."

"I guess we'll have to find out," Tira said.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The trip to the gift shop was a waste of time. Mrs. Crank wasn't there; the gift shop didn't open for another two hours. Before leaving for the hospital to join the rest of the gang Bryce went into the fish and chip restaurant that Mr. Seafish owned to buy some fries. They were for Cindy who hadn't eaten at the bakery because she had got so caught up in their new adventure.

Mr. Seafish had joined them on the gang's adventure with the robotic crabs. In fact, when he and Adam were dragged to the bottom of the ocean to an underground city called Mimba, they had saved his life three times by the end of the day. He often gave them free food.

Cindy and Amy sat on a bench across from the pier on the boardwalk. Amy had tried to get a conversation going a few times, but it was a one-sided effort; Cindy was jealous and didn't want to give the new girl a chance. It wasn't too long before she realized she was being really immature and decided to be a little nice.

"When did you start reading about us?" Cindy asked finally.

Amy looked away from her view of the oddly colored sky which had been clouded over with large, thick purple clouds to Cindy. "When I was nine," she answered. She looked downward and swung her feet back and forth.

A moment or two went by. 'So much for being nice,' Cindy thought.

Suddenly Amy giggled. "You were always my favorite character," she said.

Cindy's interest was perked. "Really?"

"Yeah," she insisted. "I mean, I really admire Sally's wit, Adam's leadership, Bryce's suaveness and Watch's intelligence, but you brought something different to the group: you gave Adam confidence, you tamed Bryce's arrogance, you made Watch feel loved and gave Sally–" Amy trailed off, trying to think of something.

"I gave her something to do," Cindy finished. "I can only imagine how much more she'd have to insult the guys if I were gone."

The girls laughed. Cindy realized Amy wasn't so bad.

"Although," Cindy said, becoming serious. "I'm not sure if I did anything to help Bryce."

"What do you mean?" Amy asked, glancing over at her.

Cindy looked down at the ground. "Well, Bryce changed a lot; he went back to being all James Bond and he dates a lot of girls. He barely even hangs out with us anymore."

"Really?"

"You hadn't noticed, not even a little?"

"No, but I mean I barely know him."

And that's as far as the girls' conversation went. It was then they were attacked.  
A hideous creature had approached the girls from behind and grabbed Amy around the neck. Amy only felt the creature's rotting skin, but Cindy saw the horrific thing and began to scream.

It looked like a starved corpse that had been rotting in the sun for a few days. The creature had wide, vacant eyes and sunken cheeks. Its brown skin hung loosely off its stick figure like the dirty rags it wore. Surprisingly it could talk and seemed to have its own language as it spoke to its partner that then grabbed Cindy as well and began to drag her south on the boardwalk.

Bryce came running towards the girls only a few seconds later but he didn't know how to help them. He searched for some sort of weapon, but it was no use; everything was either attached to the ground or too heavy to lift. Out of desperation he ended up jumping on the creature that was attacking Cindy and the three of them crashed to the ground in a furious struggle.

Once Bryce managed to get the upper hand, the creature screamed at its partner for assistance. The creature who had kept a hold of Amy's throat finally let go to comply with its buddy's calls. Though Amy wheezed for air from the ground, she forced herself to get up and go to Bryce's aid.

Cindy came to Bryce's rescue as well. She decided to stop the first creature from reuniting with his buddy by heading him off. The thing didn't look too threatened by her and was about to attack her next. Amy did the only thing she thought she could to help Cindy which was to yank off her clunky shoe and use it to beat the scraggly beast. She crept up from behind as it had done to her and gave it a good blow to the side of the head. Though it was stunned a moment, it just turned its attention to her once more. Luckily she managed get another hit off and it instead recoiled in fear.

Once again it talked to its partner. Cindy believed it was trying to convince its partner to leave with it, only it seemed to disagree, probably since it was clearly more powerful than Bryce who was now slowly having the life choked from him as well.

Following Amy's example, Cindy pulled off her shoe too and went after Bryce's attacker. However this one was stronger than its partner and once Cindy hit it, it reacted by grabbing her arm and throwing her to the boardwalk. However, to do this it had to let go of Bryce which was a mistake since he got free enough to wrestle the thing to ground once more.

After making contact with its head on the boardwalk a few times, the zombie-like creature let out a screech and struggled furiously to push Bryce off him. It was still stronger than him but it instead used its strength to push Bryce off him and join its buddy in escaping from the teens that were more trouble than they were worth.

And then the three of them slumped to the ground to catch their breaths and their racing hearts.

"Were those zombies?" Cindy asked as she rubbed her backside.

Bryce had obviously received the worst of the attack. He had a cut on his forehead that bled slightly and already there were bruises forming on his throat. "I doubt it," he gasped. "They looked like it, but they were warm to the touch. Plus they were too intelligent." Bryce suddenly burst into a fit of coughing.

"Are you alright?" Amy asked with concern. Cindy gave her a look, feeling a stab of jealousy. Once Bryce nodded, Amy turned to Cindy.

"I'm fine," she lied.

"We should head to the hospital," Bryce said hoarsely. He pushed himself up and gave a hand to Cindy, then to Amy. "We need to figure out what we're going to do; it's clear that there are no dinosaurs. And that's not necessarily a good thing. Now we don't know what we're dealing with."

As they headed for the hospital it became even clearer that the dinosaur theory was just that. Pixies roamed, string rays flew, massive butterflies fluttered and strange plants spread. It was a normal day in Spooksville. They made it to the hospital safely and just as Watch, Adam, Sally and Tira were exiting Dr. Paine's office.

"What happened?" Tira gasped as they approached with their injuries.

"The gift shop wasn't open and as we were leaving we were attacked by these weird creatures that looked like zombies," Cindy explained briefly, trying to save Bryce's voice.

"Are you guys OK?" Adam asked.

Bryce nodded. "But the dinosaur theory is wrong; there are no dinosaurs."

"Dinosaurs or not, we really need to close the Secret Path," Watch said looking around the emergency room. "We'll probably have to go through it to do that, but the more these creatures are here the more people are going to get hurt."

"Yeah," Sally echoed. "If a creature was able to hurt Bryce, we're all in trouble."

"What did the doctor have to say about the flowers?" Cindy asked.

"Basically what we already knew," Watch said. "He also added a few things though. The anthocyanins I was talking about before, the red pigment, is an indication of any one of several things. The pigment is hypothesized to act as sunscreen and possibly protects against intense heat, cold, droughts and/or salt buildup."

Bryce frowned. "Was anything he said definite?"

"Not really. Scientists know little about red plants," Watch told her. "But this is a start. We should be ready for anything when we go through."

Adam took charge. "If we're going anywhere we need supplies."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The gang ended up at Bryce's since he had a big collection of weapons and other helpful tools which had proven useful on a few occasions. The first had been when a dragon decided to destroy Spooksville and the other was when the vampires invaded. It seemed Bryce's material resourcefulness would prove useful a third time.

It had become apparent during the dragon raid that Bryce's sources came from the contacts he had; most likely through his father. Actually Bryce lived alone, but he admitted to them once that his father had a top secret job and even he didn't know what it was. The gang wasn't aware of any other family Bryce had other than his cousin, Leah, who had joined them on the adventure with the dragons. She had been the one to instigate the quest when she showed up at the bakery with Bryce and a treasure map.

"How's your throat?" Amy asked as Bryce entered the kitchen. She had been hiding out there because she felt uncomfortable with everyone, even Bryce. Especially Bryce.

He touched his neck gently. "I suppose it's not so bad. It is a bit irritating," he admitted. Bryce reached up into a cupboard and grabbed a couple of boxes of Pop tarts. "Actually I should probably make some tea or something," he added. His voice was raspy.

"I can make some," Amy offered. "I feel bad about not doing anything."

Bryce flashed one of his sweet, rare smiles. "OK."

It didn't take too long to boil the water or mix the honey into it, but Amy paused just before she went to give it to Bryce. Ann Templeton had made her immortal. Maybe. Amy didn't believe yet even though she had been throttled as long as, if not longer than, Bryce and her throat showed no bruises and there was no pain. She reminded herself she also supposedly had blood that could heal not only her, but others as well. The thought was a passing one; she couldn't put her blood into the tea. It was wrong without Bryce's consent. And yet, she still couldn't bring herself to tell them about the wish even though she felt bad for keeping it from them.

"Here's your tea," Amy said as she entered Bryce's room. He was pulling out a first aid kit from a trunk at the end of his bed.

"Thanks," he said as he took it from her and sipped it. For a moment Amy lingered there, but then she turned to leave. "You don't feel comfortable here, do you?" Bryce asked. She froze at his words and looked back at him. He glanced at her. "You shouldn't."

Amy forced a pathetic smile and left. Things were complicated.

In the television room, Cindy and Adam were packing the backpacks up while Sally lounged on the couch and rested her eyes.

"It's like we're going to war," Cindy commented.

Adam took a peek into a box that he was about to shove into a bag. There was a dagger inside. He stopped packing and sat beside Sally. "I don't think bringing this stuff is a good idea."

"What do you expect to defend yourself with then?" Sally asked with her eyes still closed. "These creatures will gut you and eat your insides the second they have the chance. You cannot reason with them."

"We've never had to resort to using weapons like this though," Adam argued. "We do just fine without daggers and all that."

"What about all those alien weapons?" Sally mentioned. She opened her eyes and took a glance at Adam before settling down again.

"You mean like this?" Bryce asked from the doorway to the hall. He held up a laser pistol.

Adam recognized the gun immediately. "Isn't that the shape shifter gun?"

Bryce beamed. "It's not like I stole it."

The gang had run into a shape shifting race the night before paranormality hibernated in Spooksville - the night the witch left, but not before granting them each a wish.

"You've been hiding that for four years?" Cindy asked in disbelief.

"Actually I knew," Watch admitted as he walked in from the hall as well.

"I never hid it, you just never asked about it," Bryce said.

Adam decided to take a stand. "We don't need this stuff."

"These are creatures that like to hurt, Adam," Bryce explained, trying to hide his annoyance as he pointed to the now-bandaged cut on his forehead and then to his throat. "And this time we don't have a fairy to heal us when arrows fly."

He was referring to the other time mythical creatures had invaded Spooksville. Watch had been hit in the calf with an arrow and a fairy named Sarshi had mended him with the magic she knew. Bryce had not been there, he didn't really join the gang until the dinosaurs showed up, but they had told him about it.

Amy, who stood at the entrance to the kitchen, looked down at her arm where veins pumped blood throughout her body. She was their fairy, their healer. She knew Ann Templeton must have given her the wish for a reason and she knew the witch probably knew her wish before she offered to grant it. Adam and the others were granted wishes not only to save the universe, but because they earned the witch's respect. Amy was just given it and she wondered why. She looked up and noticed Watch staring at her. Quickly she looked down again.

Adam saw this. Watch had been studying Amy all day and Adam wondered what was going through his mind. He could only guess that his friend was trying to figure out why Amy looked so familiar to them because no one else could.

"I'm not carrying this stuff; who ever wants it can carry it themselves," Adam announced. "I refuse to."

"Me too," Cindy and Tira agreed.

Watch hesitated. "I agree," he said.

Bryce and Sally looked at one another. "Fine, but I'm keeping this gun," Bryce decided.

Cindy and Adam unpacked everything and decided what to put into the bags.

"I don't think there's enough food," Tira observed. "Two boxes of Pop tarts aren't going to do it."

"Yeah," Bryce agreed, "I don't really have a lot of durable food here."

The grocery store was out of the way, but everyone thought that avoiding a little detour was not worth starving to death. They had no idea what was on the other side of the tombstone or how long they'd be there.

"These are some really weird creatures," Sally commented as a blue butterfly the size of her fluttered past.

"I'm thinking that the creatures on the other side of the Secret Path are migrating here," Watch offered. "Those zombie creatures wouldn't have left their home if they had plenty of food and shelter."

"Aren't they going to destroy our ecosystem?" Tira asked.

Adam noticed that Amy was walking behind them. He figured Bryce would be the first to notice only he was walking with Cindy. So, he stopped and waited for Amy to catch up with him.

"Hi," he said as she approached him.

She looked up. "Hello," she greeted. They began to walk together.

"How do you like Spooksville so far?" he asked after a brief silence. Ann Templeton had asked him the exact same question the day he arrived in town.

"It's nice," she said simply.

Adam kept trying. "Even after that attack?" he asked. She shrugged.

He tried to think of something else to say, but after a moment Amy spoke. "Things just aren't as I thought they would be."

Their conversation was interrupted then. "What is that?" Adam heard Cindy ask.

He glanced up and saw the reptilian squirrel that Dr. Paine spoke of, walking amongst the gang as they each backed up to give it room. It was as though it was deciding on who the prime candidate for its dinner was. Its little claws that extended from its lengthy arms clicked sharply on the pavement, its thick, stubby tail flickered as a squirrel's would. Stopping at Amy, the evil little thing got ready to pounce but Adam instinctively grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him. The creature began to scream.

"Run for the grocery store!" he yelled. Adam yanked Amy with him. The squirrel was probably calling for more of his kind to come; a theory proven fact when more of the thick-hided creatures started to peek out from the trees.

The gang wasn't too far from the local grocery store so they made it inside long before the deranged squirrels could reach them. The first thing Adam noticed about the store was that it was empty. That wasn't very reassuring.

"Out the back," Adam told his friends.

Bryce, next to Adam at the front of the store, ran for the cereal aisle. "Hold on," he said as the others headed for the fire exit at the rear of the store. Adam knew he was getting supplies and now was the time to get them since everything was free. He made a mental note to tally what Bryce took and later pay the store owner back like they always did when they borrowed the townspeople's belongings.

Adam was heading for the back of the store when Cindy called out. "Adam, they're surrounding the back door."

He sighed. "At least we won't starve." Adam stopped in the bread aisle and stood there trying to figure out what to do. A minute later Watch approached him with steaks in hand and an idea. As Bryce continued to choose supplies, Adam and Watch went to the back door.

"Cindy, go help Bryce," Adam directed her as he passed her his bag.

"We need to wait until everyone's ready," Watch explained. "If we throw the steaks out, they may go after those instead."

"They may only like warm meat," Sally said darkly. Both Adam and Watch feared she was right.

"I'll be back," Adam said. He headed to the meat aisle for more steaks. As he grabbed the last of them and knelt down to lift the pile, he heard a voice.

"Are you human?" he was asked. Adam turned to his left and faced a beautiful little girl with long curly pale blonde hair and wide blue eyes that swallowed everything they saw in a childish curiosity. She poked his cheek with a finger. She couldn't be more than six.

"Yes," Adam answered, figuring she'd seen as many odd sights as they had that day. "Where's your mother?" he asked, looking around. Briefly Adam could picture a bloody corpse lying somewhere in the store. He hoped the little girl's mother had not been attacked.

She scrunched up her nose. "I'm not human," she said as though that answered his question. The little girl spread out her delicate sparkling wings that had a moment ago been hidden. "I'm a fairy," she explained proudly. "My name's Saline."

She held out her hand and Adam held out his. "Adam," he said.

Saline turned her head to the side and knitted her eyebrows together. "Are you going to feed the harbingers?" she asked, looking at the steaks. Adam assumed she was talking about the squirrels.

"Yeah," he told her.

"They're not hungry," she shook her head. She seemed to know a lot.

Watch jogged toward them then. "Adam, we need to-" he stopped once he saw Saline.

Adam glanced at Watch. "Hold on," he said to him. Adam quickly turned back to Saline. "How are we supposed to get out of here? We need to get through to your world to stop whatever's causing your world to come here."

"Oh," she said. She was surprised. "In that case they may let you out. I can go talk to them," she offered.

"They're intelligent?" Watch asked.

"Of course," Saline said. She gave Watch a funny look as though it wasn't possible that they weren't.

Saline followed Adam and Watch to the rear of the store. After brief introductions, Saline slipped out the back door.

When a few minutes passed, Adam grew more and more worried. "We shouldn't have let her go out there; she's too little to deal with those creatures."

"She's a fairy: she's probably older than we are," Bryce comforted him.

A minute later there was a soft knock on the door and Adam opened it, relieved to see little Saline unharmed. "They like you," she beamed.

As the gang walked toward the cemetery Saline explained all she knew about what was happening.

"You see," she began, nibbling on a chocolate bar that she asked Adam to open for her. "I come from a place that has humans too, but they're not very nice to other creatures," she said.

"How unheard of," Sally remarked sarcastically.

Saline continued. "They're trying to take our homes for their own uses which is why Naia helped the Lilais defend themselves."

Watch glanced at Saline sharply. It wasn't in anger, but in sudden curiosity like what she had just said was very important. Adam knew that look. "Who's Naia?"

Saline's eyes wandered and looked as a child who was hiding something would. "I'm not supposed to talk to her," she confessed. "But she's so lonely." The gang waited for her to go on. "Naia wanted to be part of the human world; she wanted a government job and wanted to change things. But then they found out she was a fairy so they banned her to the Jarethcomb area which is where I live. Then she got mad," Saline explained, taking another bite. "And the Lilais got mad too once this man tried to take their home so Naia helped them defend themselves. Now they're the harbingers."

"What man?" Bryce asked.

Saline's eyebrows knitted together. "He wants to build shops for humans to go to, but he wants to use the earth we live on. There's no more room in Aulora to build anything else, or he just likes our land…_something_."

They entered the cemetery and approached the tombstone. The ground was littered in flowers which looked odd with the dead and scraggly trees that dotted the grounds.

"So you're going to stop that man?" Saline asked as they came to a stop in front of Madeline's grave. "I was trying to find Naia but I have to be home soon before someone notices I'm gone. I thought she would be easy to find; she said she would come here to help the harbingers."

"How did Naia help them?" Watch asked distractedly. Once again he was lost in thought, seemingly ignoring what people were saying. Adam was growing worried.

"First they were chubby and cute and then she made them into reptile things that can control people's minds," Saline said.

Everyone looked at one another. "Control?" Adam asked.

"Yeah, so the harbingers can fight the bad man back," Saline said, chocolate smeared all over her face.

"How do they control humans?" Watch specified.

"They try to sense out people with something that can help their cause, but they also usually make sure that the person is sensitive to their controlling. Then they attach themselves to the back of their necks," Saline said. She began to lick her caked fingers.

Watch thought back to the hospital. "But they will attack someone who's not so receptive to controlling?" he asked.

Saline dropped her arms and looked at him with guilty eyes. Then she looked to the ground for comfort. "Yes," she mumbled.

"Can they kill someone they're trying to possess that isn't sensitive to their control?" Bryce questioned.

"Maybe," Saline said quietly.

Adam noticed that her eyes were starting to water. "That's enough," he said. "We're turning this into an interrogation now."

Bryce nodded in agreement and then turned to Adam. "I know you don't like splitting up, but I think we may have to; every moment her world is in ours, the more damage is being done to the environment and the rightful citizens of Spooksville. We need to find Naia, but we also have to see this business guy – one of them needs to concede."

Everyone then turned to Adam, waiting for his decision. "Fine," he nodded.

Once again it was Watch who split them up. He, Bryce, Tira and Amy would search for Naia, who Saline said liked caves and water. Adam, Sally and Cindy would go find the Van de Ryn business man beyond the Secret Path.

Before they left, Cindy and Bryce reorganized the bags again so that each group had what they needed. Adam's group received most of the food and water since their destination was an unknown one. Meanwhile, Saline explained there was a lot of forest in her world and that she didn't know exactly where to find the Van de Ryn man, but that their best bet was a long hike to a city called Aulora. It was during this time that Adam approached Watch.

He was standing by a tree that was located about twenty feet from everyone. He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice Adam's presence until he was tapped on the shoulder. He jumped slightly.

"What's going on? You've been like this all day," Adam said.

Watch gave him a stern look and then glanced over at Amy. "I have a lot on my mind," he said simply, a far away look in his eyes.

Adam took a look at Amy as well. She was knelt down beside Bryce and Cindy, helping them pack the last few things. "She said she was here a long time ago. Maybe you remember her." Adam told his friend.

"Even you think there's something familiar about her," Watch muttered.

"That's true," Adam admitted. "So what are you thinking?"

Watch continued to look at her. "I doubt a lot of things about her: who she is, where she came from, and that she even met Ann Templeton."

Adam studied his friend, looking for humor but there wasn't any. "You can't be serious," he protested.

"I am," Watch said. "Bryce and Cindy explained exactly what happened at the gift shop and according to their record of events Amy should be even more hurt than Bryce."

Adam still didn't understand where Watch was going with this. "Maybe they're mistaken. They were all attacked, how could they know exactly what happened to each other while worrying about their own lives?"

Watch was patient. "Their accounts are the same; Amy was attacked first and was being strangled until Bryce fought off Cindy's attacker. That's got to be almost twenty seconds of being strangled; Bryce wasn't even strangled as long."

"So what are you saying?" Adam asked.

"Think about it: Amy shows up when Saline's world meets ours. She doesn't talk much, spends her time listening to us, and she already knows us. Mysteriously, she's unharmed after being strangled. And conveniently there's a fairy that we know caused this merging of worlds who is missing."

Adam thought a moment. He didn't want to believe it, but it made sense. Why would Ann Templeton travel light years to transfer some girl here? "Wait," Adam said. "How could she know about us? And wouldn't Saline recognize her?"

"She's a fairy and a powerful one. Saline said so. If she can evolve squirrels into beasts, she can probably transform into a sixteen year old girl," Watch went on. "She can probably read our minds too, at least a little bit. At breakfast she could barely explain what she knew about us, if she even knows much at all, but she could answer our specific questions. She can probably at least pick up on little things; I'm sure everyone was thinking of the answer when they asked her a question – I was."

"Why would she want to be with us?" Adam asked, struggling to disprove his friend's theory.

"We're known in a lot of places," Watch said. "And even if she didn't know us, just picking up a few of our thoughts would cause her to believe she can use us to help the harbingers or even herself."

Adam took another look at Amy who was listening to Sally and her absurd prediction of what was on the other side. The rest of his questions dissolved; Watch's theory could explain them all.

"What are you going to do?" Adam asked, knowing full well why Watch chose the groups he did.

"I don't know. Naia may have no intention of stopping the harbingers and turning them back after they stop that man," Watch theorized. "She may use them to get revenge for herself and because she now knows our intentions she may stop us before we can stop her."

"Or she might just be doing this to help the little guys win against a tycoon," Adam reminded him. He felt that Watch was counting on the worst thing happening without giving Amy, or Naia, a chance. He paused. "Wait – why would she look familiar then?"

Watch gave him a fleeting look.

"Ready to go?" Bryce asked as he approached them and handed Adam a backpack. He then put one on himself.

"Yeah," Adam said quietly, still looking at Watch. His friend knew why Amy was familiar.

The gang got a move on since the sky was threatening to rain. The two groups said "goodbye" to one another briefly and wished good luck. Then Adam, Cindy, Sally and Saline stepped through to an enchanted realm.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Passing through to Saline's world via the Secret Path was more like walking through a doorway than traveling transdimensionally. Usually there was a falling sensation, accompanied by a feeling of spinning, but the only thing that remained was the moment of confusion. Once that passed they found themselves in a magnificent realm of beauty.

The first thing Adam did was gaze up at the pale, but vibrant, orange sky. It drew him; he had seen red plants before and this place was loaded with them, but the sky was fascinating.

"Everything green in Spooksville is red here," Cindy mumbled absently. She took a few steps and knelt down to feel the lush red grass that felt more like an expensive carpet than plant life.

Even Sally was captivated by the scenery. She approached the pond that lay ten yards from the tombstone - which seemed to exist in every dimension - and stared at the orange-tinged water, probably wondering if it was as toxic as she claimed their reservoir water back home was.

"Isn't it pretty?" Saline gushed. She remained by the makeshift gravestone that looked as though it could have been blasted from an alien's cave on a planet in the darkest corner of the universe. It stood tall - over their heads. Its jagged edges were as sharp as the edge of a blade. Where it had been cut from where ever it had come it exposed the rock's smooth black inside. Adam admired it as he turned back to Saline. She was beaming with pride for her home. He noticed that etched deeply into the stone was Madeline's name.

"You said you had to go home, right?" Adam asked her as his eyes strayed to the sky once more.

"Yes," he heard her say. "For now at least, but I know once word gets around that the business man is being driven away everyone will be in a frenzy and I can sneak away to help you three."

Adam's stare shot back to her. He couldn't bear the thought that she would be anywhere near danger. "You really shouldn't," he insisted as he wondered why she had such faith in them.

Saline smiled at his worried face. "I can handle myself, you know," she told him and laughed easily. Suddenly she seemed much older than six; Bryce had probably been right about her being a lot older than they were. Saline turned away from them and looked into the forest behind the tombstone. "I guess I should head home. My mama is already going to have a fit." With a wave and a goodbye, the little fairy skipped away, but not before pointing them in the direction of Aulora.

As soon as Saline left, Cindy looked the way she had pointed. "There isn't anything in that direction," she said as she gazed into the distance. The forest seemed to stretch forever.

"There isn't anything in any direction," Sally said as a matter-of-factly.

Adam looked as well. "No, there's some sort of building," he said after a moment of studying. He tried to point it out to the girls but to no avail and Adam wondered if he was imagining it.

"If we can't see it, how far is it?" Cindy asked. She twirled her hair with her finger which she did when nervous. Her gorgeous golden hair. Sally turned to him for an answer when he remained silent and Adam had to pry himself from the sight.

"I don't know, but standing here and worrying isn't getting us closer. We may as well get started our hike now," he told them.

Sally glared at him. "It's a full out journey, and it's going to be _long_ one," she muttered as she and Cindy followed Adam's lead around the pond and toward Aulora.

They made small talk for a while but eventually the new sights, sounds and smells captivated them so much that their conversation fell dead amidst the great beauty. About fifteen minutes into their walk they came across a stream that appeared to be heading in their direction. Adam figured it fed into a body of water near Aulora since most cities were built around one so he decided it was best for him and his friends to follow it. It turned out to be easier to walk by the water. The trees backed off a little at the water's edge, as well as the larger Jarethcomb plants. But the shore was not bare; in fact, it hosted thousands of flowers and fragrances that made Adam want to remain in the land and forget about Spooksville and its troubles. That is, until he remembered this land had its troubles as well and that they were there to help; it was something Adam now wanted to do more than ever. Briefly he questioned the human's sanity in this dimension; he couldn't understand how they could be so ignorant of their world's beautiful landscape and its magical inhabitants.

After an hour and a half of walking, they all took a rest by the shore of the creek. Adam had to take a huge gulp of the water to prove to Sally it was fine and in the end she was too thirsty to fight it any longer. As the girls continued to kneel by the water Adam got up and headed toward their bags in search of a snack. He paused once he arrived at the bags. Something didn't seem right.

"Hey, my bag's gone!" he cried. The girls turned to him and looked at him in astonishment. Mythical creatures had invaded Spooksville four years ago and elves had taken a liking to their things, even one of Watch's watches. This was very reminiscent of that troubling and annoying incident.

Sally stood up and walked over to Adam with a hand on her hip. "I'm not taking this," she vowed and shook her head defiantly. She swung toward the forest and shook her finger at it as though one of the trees must have been responsible for the theft. "I swear if that bag isn't returned I will personally see to it that you're drowned in this very creek."

Adam touched her arm. "Sally, it's just a bag," he told her. She swung back around at him and threw her arms up into the air.

"Well I'm hungry!" she said.

Adam was taken back and was going to say something when a voice came from behind them.

"Have yer supplies been stolin'?" a male voice with an Irish lilt asked.

Adam turned around to find Cindy already staring at the little pixie-like creature that lay basking in the sun's warmth on a rock on the opposite shore. "Yeah," he answered, not altogether surprised. He had dealt with these types of creatures before; in Spooksville it was hard to avoid such a thing.

Sally, in her rotten mood, unwisely spoke. "And what the hell are you?" she demanded in a hostile tone. Adam hoped the creature wouldn't get angry; they had a mission to complete and couldn't do it easily if the Jarethcomb inhabitants were against them.

"I, Milady, am a puck," the little creature said in his tight red outfit - it matched his hair. "T'e name's O'Reilly. And 'ou've been a victim of ol' Rynnie 'n' his minions."

"Why would they only steal one bag?" Cindy asked. She was obviously fascinated by the creature; Adam thought it was caused by an innocence she had managed to hang on to throughout adolescence and it made his heart thump in his chest to the point he thought it was trying to escape the confines of his ribcage and do the things his head refrained him from doing.

Adam quickly snapped himself back to reality as O'Reilly gave a sinister smile. He wasn't sure if he trusted the guy. "Who knows?" the puck said. "T'ey're greedy; 'ou should go after t'em."

"We already are," Adam said. He decided to be upfront with their plans, even if O'Reilly seemed a bit dangerous. "We've come from another world to stop that man."

O'Reilly's eyebrow raised and a look of uncertainty passed over his face. "Why do 'ou care what 'appens to us?" he asked, seemingly without any confusion about other dimensions. Adam figured a lot of creatures in Jarethcomb understood transdimensional travel, probably because the Secret Path was in their backyard. Anger seeped through the puck's words, anger about the intrusions into Jarethcomb, and Adam understood. Well, no, not really. But he sympathized with the creature's bitterness.

"Don't flatter yourself; those reptiles-" Sally began. Adam cut her off.

"Don't listen to her," Adam waved off and tried to ignore Sally's scary glare. "We do care about our town being harmed, but it's still not right what that Van de Ryn man is trying to do to you and Jarethcomb."

"Humans don't know t'at name. Where'd 'ou hear it?" Now suspicion entered his voice.

"A fairy," Adam said. He was purposely vague.

"Name?" Adam hesitated. He didn't want to put Saline in harm's way.

"Saline," Sally spoke up. It was Adam's turn to glare at her.

At this O'Reilly leaped off the rock he was lounging on and studied them, as though the change of position gave a new perspective of these humans. After a moment he turned and hurried into the forest and Adam began to panic. He looked sharply at Sally, waiting for one of her snide remarks, but she instead remained silent as she stared in the distance. Here was another person to worry about – only he couldn't keep an eye on Watch, who he feared would do something foolish. Even though Watch usually acted very logical, his behavior toward Amy was unusual. He could help Saline though.

"We have to head back now, to save Saline," Adam announced. He grabbed the bags and began to head into the forest. He wouldn't listen to Sally's arguments. Saline could be in trouble. He stopped immediately when a rustling of leaves and branches started in the forest and glanced back at the girls. They were all wondering what alien creature was approaching them. But even before they could hypothesize a single horror, O'Reilly stepped from the forest; he had come back, with Adam's bag in hand.

"_You_ stole it," Sally said, finding her voice. It dripped with contempt. She was really scaring Adam.

"I am a puck and t'at's what puck's do, Milady," O'Reilly bowed and set the bag down where he had originally lifted it from. "'Tis what all creatures do with our 'omes bein' taken, but only from 'umans."

"But you're returning it?" Cindy asked. O'Reilly smiled, again it was malicious and Adam now figured he couldn't help it.

"Aye," he said. "Other than t'at one there," he pointed to Sally, "I believe you're being serious; Saline's a sweet fairy. And now 'ou can make good on yer promise. I'll take 'ou to t'e Van de Ryn man and 'ou can deal wit' 'im."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

As soon as Adam, Sally, Cindy and Saline were gone, Watch, Bryce, Tira and Amy got a move on. It was only eleven-thirty, but their adventures had always had a tendency to draw themselves out.

It was an hour walk to the caves and there were a lot of them to search through. They could cross out two of them at least: one had once been filled with hyeets and the other was once a tunnel to the last surviving piece of Lemuria. One had caved in and the other was sealed.

Their group had fewer supplies, but instead of food they had stocked up on flares, flashlights and batteries. Watch carried a couple Bic lighters; he had learned that the simple objects were of great use in tight jams and he made sure he didn't go anywhere without at least two in his pocket. As for dealing with Naia, they figured they could rely on their good looks and charms. 'Or at least Bryce could,' thought Watch as he noticed Amy's stares. Dealing with other creatures was far from their minds.

"We should take the back pathway to the reservoir," Bryce decided, the alien gun tucked into his belt.

"Isn't that overgrown?" Watch asked quietly. He was distracted and knew Bryce was probably questioning why.

"A little," Bryce remarked, giving Watch a look. "But it's the quickest route. We should be there in under an hour. Plus we'll be concealed by the trees instead of being out in the open."

For a few minutes there was no talking other than Bryce's occasional coughing fits; Watch was busy theorizing about Amy, Bryce was theorizing what Watch was thinking, Amy was probably dreaming about Bryce, and Tira was always quiet, but most definitely worrying about Watch. It was when they found the path – with difficulty – that talking resumed.

"This may not be a good route," Tira said softly. The four of them stood at the entrance and looked down the indistinguishable path. The forest was dense; not a place for someone claustrophobic.

"It'll take another hour to walk around the forest and find another path," Watch told her, "But it will be safer. We'll probably get lost using this route."

"Not with a compass," Bryce protested. He looked at Watch. "This is the fastest and safest route and we're already here," he coaxed. But Bryce was not one for trying to convince people of his point of view; he did what he wanted. And now he stepped on to the path, determined to have his way whether anyone else came or not.

Watch had come out of his shell. "You're not going alone; you know we wouldn't let you. I just hope you understand you're dragging us into possible danger." He stepped past Bryce and began the hike to Naia's supposed location. Bryce seemed offended by his words.

"I have no problem dealing with this on my own," he told Watch with an air of self-importance. "And how's it any more dangerous than the path we usually take?" he demanded, looking at Watch as he walked into the distance. Bryce realized he wasn't going to get an answer and decided to just head toward the reservoir. The girls followed him.

The boys cooled down in a few minutes. It was difficult not to with all the hard work they had to put into climbing over fallen trunks and squeezing passed sharp branches. Watch talked quietly with Tira, but he also returned to his thoughtful demeanor. Bryce began to talk to Amy; it was her new favorite hobby.

"You can stay at my house from now on," Bryce said and gave her a slight smile. She wondered if there was a touch of mischievous in it; she thought there might have been.

"Thank you," she said almost silently. Bryce had that effect on her. Suddenly he stopped, still continuing to look at her and her at him. For a moment, nothing else existed besides them; not the overgrown path which was looking more and more like part of the forest, not the forest itself or all the annoying flesh-craving bugs that lived in it.

He leaned close to her. Amy held her breath. "I'm glad you came here," he said softly, his words hugging her in a warm, happy cloud. She turned red.

Bryce turned from her and began to walk away. She tried briefly to deconstruct the encounter that just occurred, but once Bryce was several paces ahead she got moving, in sudden fear that the forest would swallow her. In such little time the trees had closed in around them, hinting at a threat to squeeze and squash them in between their thick trunks. There was more silence for a while.

"How many books did you say were in the series, Amy?" Watch asked suddenly.

Amy's head shot up; surprised that Watch was conversing with her. He didn't seem to like her very much. Unless…

"Twenty-four," she repeated.

"Which one was the thirteenth?"

Amy thought for only a moment again. "Adam, Sally and Cindy's science teacher, Mr. Snakol, turned out to be an alien."

"Ah," said Watch. "I can't quite remember: which adventure did we have after that?"

Amy wasn't stupid. "Halloween," she said. "And after that the No ones came to town – it was when Tira came - and after that there was the Time Toy and the adventure only you have recollection of."

Watch looked back at her and came to a stop – she had hit a bit of a sore spot and she knew it. Amy stopped as well, while Bryce and Tira continued walking ahead of them but not before Bryce turned and winked at her; for comfort perhaps.

"I'm sorry," she said once the other two were several steps ahead of Watch. She briefly looked him in the eye. There was silence.

"You don't like me, do you?" she asked.

"Why would you say that?" Watch said. He, however, had been looking at her the entire time. Staring her down.

Amy looked downward. "You always ask people you don't like a lot of questions," she said and continued walking, moving around Watch as she approached him. She hadn't looked at him to see his reaction. He continued walking once she was a few paces in front of him.

Bryce and Tira came to an abrupt stop ahead of her at that moment though and motioned for her and Watch to halt. After a moment of silence, Amy noticed the noise immediately and then remembered her wish. She seemed to hear much clearer than the others who had their ears cocked in the air, straining to listen. The noise came from their left. It was fairly far away and was definitely a creature that was walking, a creature intelligent enough to know they knew it was there. It stopped suddenly.

Amy and Watch made their way to Bryce and Tira once they were motioned to do so.

"I bet it's the creatures from the boardwalk," Bryce muttered.

"What do you want to do?" Watch asked as he studied his friend.

Bryce looked in the direction of where the noise had been and touched his bruised throat. It looked painful. "I think there's only one; it's probably cocky, maybe for a good reason. I say we curve a little to our right and call it a day."

No one objected, so off they went. They were only fifteen minutes into their walk in the forest and already they were having a problem with the wildlife, and that included the trees which were closing in further and further. Amy decided to keep an extra sharp watch and listen for dangers; it was probably the heightened fear contributing to her sharpened senses and not that wish. What reason would Ann Templeton possibly have to give a complete stranger a wish? Amy wondered about this more and more. At any rate it was a good thing she made the decision to keep an ear out.

"Oh my god," Amy gasped a minute later. Everyone turned to her and followed her frantic gaze in all directions. "They're all around," she managed to get out. Immediately Bryce pushed Amy forward, into Watch.

"Take them ahead," Bryce ordered, pulling his gun out and played with the setting on a round knob - probably switching it from stun to kill. Watch plowed forward with the girls behind him as Bryce started north to surprise the enemy. Watch tried to go straight, so if Bryce got lost they could go back, or he could find them, or something. He just kept moving, suddenly thinking how stupid it was for them to split up. When he had done the math back there it had made sense: Bryce had a weapon and was going to hurt the bad guy, or guys, he had no weapon and had to protect the girls. Now it made no sense. The creatures would probably go after them. The vulnerable ones. The ones making a horrendous amount of noise.

Even Watch heard the creatures now. They were still all around them, no doubt following the stupid humans within their ever-shrinking hunting circle. He heard four distinct creatures; there could be more though. Watch wondered where Bryce was and cursed himself for trusting his James-Bond-I'm-the-only-defense-this-world-has delusion; he should know how to behave in a dangerous situation, he had grown up in Spooksville!

In the midst of all the chaos, between worrying about when the creatures were going to strike and hurrying the girls along even more, Watch fell. He felt stupid for it and even more so when he realized he had done it in the middle of a tiny clearing; a tiny bit of light amidst a place where night always reigned. Now the creatures could see them better than ever. He tried to get up, but his right ankle protested. It was stuck in a damn tree trunk that lay concealed beneath the unmanaged grass and foliage.

"Go!" he shouted at Tira who refused to move. Finally Bryce appeared; he suddenly came up from behind Tira and yanked her with him, but the two fell over in the process of getting away; humans were not cut out for this terrain. He was so worried about Tira's safety he hadn't realized Amy worrying about his. She was desperately trying to pull him up after freeing his foot, but he had at least forty pounds on her. He tried to help her help him and in a matter of mere moments they were finally both standing. Thankfully his ankle wasn't hurt – it had just been stuck – but despite the fact he had been freed from the trunk, he and Amy were surrounded by what Watch assumed were the creatures from the boardwalk; complete with loose skin and a dead, but hungry, look in their eyes. A brief glance over in the direction of Tira and Bryce's fall told him they were trapped as well, but he knew Bryce would have a plan in the works. He still had his gun. It was hidden in wait behind his back.

Maybe they were the same creatures from the boardwalk and had learned a thing or two about hunting that morning or else these particular ones were just smarter, but either way it was clear that they were hunting for food and weren't going to waste time giving the humans a chance to fight back. The one creature, it seemed to be the leader, held up it's crossbow at the opposite edge of the clearing, which was only fifteen feet away, and took aim. At that moment Watch could swear everything slowed. Amy looked at the creatures and then at him. Bryce sat up and gasped in alarm when he saw what was happening. Tira squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her hands against her face. As the leader pulled its bow back and let go, Amy stepped in front of Watch and planted her feet firmly in ground.

She was their fairy.

The arrow, meant for Watch, entered Amy between two ribs on her right side. It partially exited her body - Watch could see the tip protrude through her dark orange tank top which was now soaked dark red. He caught her as she fell into him and collapsed, and then lowered her to her knees. It was too painful to place her on her back with the long wooden rod impaling her. She was already coughing up blood that ran freely over the arms supporting her and Watch knew the arrow had pierced her lung. She would drown in her own blood. Watch gaped at her in horror. Everything going on around him was ignored; the approaching of the creatures, Bryce's desperate fight to save them all. No. Just him and Tira. Amy was dead now. He gently lowered her lifeless body to the ground at that point.

The last thing he remembered was a knock in the head.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

It just got hotter as the day wore on. Adam, Sally and Cindy sweated heavily as they tried their best to keep up with O'Reilly who raced like an Olympic runner on speed. They made good time, but Adam had to insist to O'Reilly that they take a rest at the next pond they came to. He scoffed at them.

"'Ou 'umans," the puck said. "Lazy buggers, 'ou."

It seemed that the closer they got to the greedy business man the worse mood Sally was in. Adam decided to talk to her at the risk of putting her into an even worse one. He collapsed beside her and looked at her; she was too tired to make witty remarks now, but he knew something was still bothering her. He studied her in silence. Despite her being half asleep, her eyes closed, and drenched wet, she still looked good. It was only when she used makeup that she looked bad. Sally had always been hard to read, but now it seemed impossible with her sporadic reactions to some unseen force. He continued to wonder at what was going through her head even as she opened her eyes and looked over at him. "Enjoying the show?" she asked. That was the first smile he had seen on her face in a long time. He had forgotten just how nice it was.

"Yeah," Adam said sheepishly, but tried to sound as though he were joking. He had decided to ask what was wrong, but now he was suddenly struck with a case of shyness. Adam stared at the sky again and, as though it reflected him, found the courage to bring the topic up. "What's wrong, Sally?" he asked, only looking at her when the question had been asked. It was made easier.

"Well, here we are in the middle of nowhere, running ourselves into the ground again. I told you guys after Pan: if there are any more supernatural creatures who are looking to battle the forces of evil we should just tell them we're busy," she said, trying to crack a joke. She failed miserably; for one of the few times in her life Sally looked scared. Adam continued to look at her, determined for an answer.

They both knew she was hiding something, but instead of admitting what it was, Sally stood up and brushed the dirt off her skirt.

Adam kept his voice relatively low; the pond lay only thirty feet away. It was where Cindy rested with O'Reilly. "Is this about Cindy?" he asked. Sally whirled around to face him.

"Am I hideous? Annoying? I know there's something wrong with me, so tell me," she said. It was loud enough to get Cindy's and O'Reilly's attention. Sally was trying to keep a brave front but her true feelings betrayed her. For a while Adam was frozen with shock. _Does she like me back? Is she mad at me for noticing at Cindy?_ This was all that was going through his head. The tears that began to form in Sally's eyes were like a slap to his face and he forced himself to respond.

"There's nothing wrong with you," he mumbled. This wasn't Sally. She never behaved like this.

"Then why-?" she began, and then stopped at the sound of tears in her throat. She closed her eyes and seemed to be trying to push everything back down. Adam was sure she had felt like this for a long time. That everyone, or maybe just he, liked Cindy over her. That she wasn't fully accepted by everyone, while Cindy was praised. He guessed this because he had felt the same way when Bryce joined the gang. He didn't know what to say to her to make her feel better though; he wanted to tell her everything going on in his head: that she was every bit as pretty as Cindy, that everyone really did like her, and also, that he had feelings for her.

"Why don't you just ask her out, Adam?" Sally asked.

He tore his eyes away from Sally and stared at a tree. His heart bounced around in his chest, trying to escape the awkward situation. He took a deep breath to reassure it and looked back at her. "Maybe because there's someone else," Adam said. He had finally figured out who he wanted to be with.

"We best be off," O'Reilly interfered. Their eyes remained locked. He could see she didn't entirely understand what he meant and he promised himself he'd tell her everything. Just not now.

As Adam stood and turned around, to once again follow O'Reilly and his tight schedule, he saw the worried look on Cindy's face. 'Why is love so complicated?' he sighed. Adam looked away from Cindy and reminded himself there was a mission to complete. After that he could worry about girls all he wanted.

It was only another ten minutes when the scenery started to transform. O'Reilly slowed down when the trees began to thin out and the large bushes grew smaller. Here the sounds of the once lively forest died and Adam could only hear an eerie wind that gained strength the further they traveled up and down the hilly landscape.

"T'is dead land," O'Reilly told them as they approached an especially large hill. At this, he stopped them. "You 'ave to go on by 'ouselves," he said. "Rynnie 'as made it impossible to live in t'is part of Jarethcomb."

"How can the Aulorean government just take away your land?" Adam asked in disgust.

O'Reilly shook his head. "Rynnie's trying to convince the city to take it from us. T'ey've been discussing it for months, but…" he trailed off a moment. "…I'm sure 'ou've 'eard of Naia if 'ou've met Saline."

Cindy caught on. "The government doesn't want to give the land to him because they banished Naia here."

"Aye," the puck nodded. "And 'tis their sullied secret, but the discussions 'avn't stopped ol' Rynnie from making t'ings 'appen," O'Reilly's face clouded. "The twit poisoned the land where he wants 'is shoppes, driving us innocent creatures furt'er into Jarethcomb."

Adam clenched his fists. "We'll stop this," he promised. He found it revolting that anyone could disregard the lives of so many living things.

"O'er t'is hill is the worst of the disease and beyond the fence t'at marks the Jarethcomb area is a nearby road t'at leads to Aulora," the puck explained. He doffed his hat. "I'll 'ead back to the Secret Path and wait for 'ou there."

Adam, Sally and Cindy thanked him and watched him briefly as he headed back into the forest. The safe forest. Sally looked back at the hill. "Somehow I don't think this business guy will listen to us."

"Well we need to do something," Adam said. "Let's go."

There was some difficulty getting up the steep hill, but the most difficult thing was looking at what was beyond it. O'Reilly wasn't exaggerating when he had said the land was dead. Even the grass stopped growing, exposing nothing but dry, poor dirt and the decomposing bodies of unfortunate creatures that littered the ground here and there. The smell was obnoxious.

"He disgusts me," Cindy spat, starting down the hill.

Adam let her walk ahead of them for a few minutes, hoping that a little time would cool her off. He tried hard to stick to his plan to prioritize, but guilt was setting in. He didn't want to hurt anyone.

"The fence," Cindy suddenly announced. Adam looked up; they had hit a particularly dense patch of creature bodies and had been looking downward. The fence was more a wall of tree logs that stood ten feet in the air.

"And how are we supposed to climb that?" Sally asked.

The girls looked at Adam for an answer.

"Umm," Adam said. Using a Bic could be disastrous. But the likelihood of there being a gate or opening somewhere was good. After all, the Van de Ryn man had to get in somehow. Adam said as much to the girls.

Cindy walked right up to the wall and looked through the space in between the logs. "I don't see a road," she said, "so I guess we just pick a direction to walk along the wall and hope we run into a door."

Adam looked through the logs too. The forest pressed up against the wall, and actually spilled a little over on to their side. "The only thing is, which way do we go?" he asked them. They stood in silence a few moments, trying to devise a logical explanation as to which direction to head in, when they heard a neigh.

Sally cocked her head to the left. "A horse? Was that a horse?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think it was," Cindy agreed.

"Let's go that left then," Adam told them.

They barely started traveling along the wall before Adam stopped the girls from going further. If someone was at the supposed gate, it was probably the business man and his men and since they were here to stop him, it would probably be wiser to stay out of his way until a plan was developed. The few trees would provide cover. Telling Cindy and Sally to stay put, Adam wandered further toward the sounds that had multiplied and strengthened.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Watch woke up to find himself still in the clearing. Sitting up, he realized no one was with him – even Amy's body was missing. Her blood wasn't though. There was so much of it; the entire area reeked of that familiar copper smell which made him sick to his stomach.

Watch couldn't believe Amy had stood in the way – she saved him. Watch looked at the spot where Amy had laid and saw two halves of the bloody arrow that had been shot at her. In spite of himself, faint tears came to Watch's eyes. He was the one that was supposed to die. And she did that for him knowing he didn't like her.

What Watch really didn't like was the fact her body was missing; she was a lot lighter than him, a lot easier to carry, and those creatures were looking for food. He took off his glasses and shut his eyes a moment, trying to drive away that morbid thought. But Watch was suddenly reminded of the boardwalk incident that morning and how Amy miraculously escaped unharmed. 'A fairy could have the power to read minds, and to heal wounds,' he remembered. He briefly mused on his theory again – he had faint doubts that she was dead.

He stood up. It mattered where Tira and Bryce were right now. If Amy was a fairy she could take care of herself, and, if she wasn't… Watch quickly wiped his eyes and put his glasses back on, realizing the prescription was mysteriously off. Odd.

Watch headed for the reservoir again, knowing it was the only source of fresh water and the most logical place for the zombie creatures to go. The terrain continued to be difficult to travel through. The trees were so dense it was hard to see twenty feet in front him. Even after a half hour Watch was still wandering and he began to believe he had been going in the wrong direction – he never was any good at them. It figured that the one watch on his wrist that contained a compass had been cracked badly during the struggle. He would have to buy a new one right away or else he wouldn't have the time in Chicago. The irony was not lost on him.

Watch finally stopped and looked around, trying to get his bearings. A little to his right he could swear he saw sunlight – perhaps it was another clearing. If it was he could figure out where to go depending on the sun's location in the sky. He began to hike again with renewed strength and hope, but these feelings were stifled not long after.

"Leave her alone!"

Watch knew that hoarse voice. It was Bryce.

"Stop!" He continued.

Bryce's voice was coming from the location Watch had decided to go to. Barging in on the action wouldn't solve anything, Watch reminded himself. He needed the element of surprise and hoped that his two friends could hold out just a little longer.

Watch tried to be extra quiet sneaking towards what he could definitely identify as a clearing now that he was maybe thirty feet away. He could make out Bryce and Tira who were sitting to the left side of the small clearing, tied back-to-back to a tree. They looked OK. In the middle of the clearing there was a fire going, but there seemed to be no zombie creatures anywhere.

Instead of seizing the opportunity to run to his friends and untie them, Watch's gut told him to be weary. The creatures could have heard him coming and hid or were hunting him right now. He looked down at his deeply stained clothing. They could have even smelled him, thinking he was a wounded animal. An easy dinner. He hurried behind a large tree and crouched down quickly. He needed to have a plan.

"Human," said an elderly voice behind him suddenly. Watch snapped his head around, but was knocked out when his head was connected with the tree trunk.

"Watch?"

Watch woke up to Tira's shaky voice. "Watch?"

He slowly opened his eyes, happy to wake up to her face although it was tear-stained. He realized he was lying on the ground and his hands and feet were tied with itchy rope.

"Are you OK?" Bryce asked worriedly. He looked him over. "You're covered…"

Watch nodded. "I'm OK, are you two?"

"Yeah," Bryce answered. Tira just nodded. His eyes lowered. "We thought– "

"No, I'm fine," Watch touched his head. It wasn't the only thing he was touched by. "I'm getting a little tired of getting knocked in the head though." He checked one of his watches – he hadn't been out long, maybe ten minutes. Pushing himself up into an awkward sitting position, he finally came face-to-face to the creature that had snuck up behind him. And it wasn't a zombie creature.

It looked a lot like an old woman actually. She wore a dirty, tattered cloak with a hood that partially covered her saggy, blue, leathery face. She had a single, penetrating yellow eye. Just another delightful creature from the other side of the Secret Path. She was currently scraping something off–

"Is that a bone?" Watch asked apprehensively.

Bryce lowered his voice. "She attacked those boardwalk creatures – took them down with ease. Then she dragged the both of us here and tied us up," he said. "And then she went back for their bodies."

The old woman stood up just then, revealing a pile of bloody bones picked clean of their meat. They had been covered with her cloak. She dumped a handful of raw, bloody meat into her metal pot and tossed the last bone on the pile.

Watch looked at Bryce. "Did that creature bring Amy here?"

Tira shook her head sadly. Bryce was silent for a while. "No," he said distractedly, realizing the implications of Watch's question: her body was missing. Watch briefly wondered if he should share his theory with them, but he didn't want to give them false hope.

The three of them turned their heads as the old creature started to hum and sharpen the dripping knife. The sharp resonating sounds of metal on metal were warning bells.

Watch looked to Bryce again. "Where's the gun?" he whispered urgently.

Bryce swallowed thickly. "As soon as you and Amy–" he stopped. "Um, they grabbed Tira and I, and I didn't get the opportunity to pick it up."

Watch studied Bryce's troubled face and then Tira's. He was surprised even after all they had been through that he was cared for so much. In fact, if he were to be killed within the next few minutes, Watch could say then that he would die happy. But that wasn't to be.

The leather-faced woman quickly finished her sharpening and approached them, pointing to Tira. "You first," she rasped and then grabbed her by her hair. Tira cried out in pain.

"Leave her alone!" Watch yelled, struggling with the ropes around his wrists. "Kill me instead!"

Tira stared at him in horror. "Watch, no," she whispered, looking at him with her impossibly blue eyes, the eyes he loved to stare into: dark like a late evening sky, but clear as a deep mountain lake. Tears flowed from them again and it broke his heart. He wouldn't have this; the idea of losing her was unbearable but now the witch raised a knife towards her neck.

"I said me!" Watch yelled, desperately attempting to goad the creature. The old woman cackled and pushed him back onto the ground easily. She now took a step towards him with her knife, but stopped suddenly when a stick cracked close by.

"Prey," she smiled, ready to hunt down another body for her meat stew. She gripped her knife tightly.

"Let them go."

Everyone redirected their gaze to the north side of the clearing to find Amy. Watch knew it; she _was_ Naia. She was even more stained in blood than Watch, but seemingly less worse for wear despite being shot dead less than two hours ago. He noticed where the arrow had entered immediately – there was a tear in her top. There was no hiding her real self any longer.

"Amy!" Bryce cried.

Ignoring him, she continued to stare at the creature. "Untie them," she repeated.

The old woman looked her over cautiously. "…weren't you dead?"

Amy smiled thinly. "Yes," she answered. "Now let them go."

The witch studied her a moment. "Tell me your secret to immortality," she asked, taking an uneasy step toward Amy. The creature seemed slightly intimidated by the eternal being standing before her.

"Why don't you just untie them before I harm you?" Amy asked.

The witch's eyes narrowed. "I want it."

Amy shook her head in annoyance. "Just do it," she said, finally pulling the laser pistol from behind her back. It must have been tucked into her belt.

There was a moment of tension as Amy waited for the witch to comply. Instead the leathery blue creature lunged at her, however, and the two ended up crashing to the ground in a struggle. It was hard to distinguish what was happening with all the flailing limbs, but the witch, who had her knife, was bent on Amy's throat. The fight didn't last long though; there was a sudden shot and then the witch became motionless as she slumped on top of Amy. Pushing the thing off her, Amy laid motionless herself for a few moments.

"Amy?" Bryce called worriedly.

"I'm fine," she whispered. She got up slowly, picked up the witch's knife and then made her way over to them. Amy first started freeing Watch.

"We're going to have to dress that," Watch said plainly. Her wrist had been cut open in the struggle and blood now dripped freely to the ground.

"I think we all know I'll be fine by now," was all she said, cutting through the last of the threads. She passed him the knife so he could free Bryce and Tira. In the mean time she clasped her wound with her hand in a vain attempt to stop the blood.

"Amy…" Bryce said slowly. He had been staring at her from his seat beside the tree.

She turned to him. "Are you alright?" she asked, crawling over to him. She placed the gun in his hand.

"Decent," he told her – his voice hoarser than ever. He looked at her eagerly. "How about you?" he asked, eyeing the tear in her shirt.

"I'm fine," she said simply.

"That was some display of confidence," Bryce said.

Amy gave a strained smile. "I was hoping to get her to do what I wanted without having to use the gun," she explained. "I wasn't sure if it was set to stun."

Watch managed to cut through the rope then and Bryce yanked it off himself. Tossing the gun on the ground, he grabbed Amy and embraced her. She flinched.

"I'm all bloody," she warned.

"I don't care," Bryce assured her. Not sure what to do, Amy faintly placed her uninjured hand on his upper arm.

"Neither do I," Tira whispered, hugging Watch tightly. He wrapped his arms around her – any other time he would have been too nervous to do such a thing, but he was almost torn from her forever and that scared him far more. Feeling hot tears on his shoulder, he hugged her even closer. "I thought you were dead!" Tira said, crying into his chest. She then lifted her head. "I'm so glad you're OK," she whispered softly in his ear.

"I'm glad you are," Watch told her.

Although he was enjoying the hug, he pulled away. There was something that had to be dealt with. He turned to Bryce and Amy.

"How are you OK?" Bryce asked Amy, tearing off the sleeve of his shirt to use for a bandage on her wrist. He carefully handled her arm as he tied the fabric around the bleeding wound.

"I–" started Amy, but Watch cut in.

"You can cut the charade."

Amy stared at him wide-eyed. Bryce glanced back at him. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

Watch stood up and stared down at her again. "You're Naia."

Amy blinked. "What?" she asked in disbelief. "No I'm not."

"You know all about our adventures, you weren't hurt at the boardwalk this morning despite being strangled and here you are standing before us after being killed more than an hour and a half ago," Watch listed. "I should think a powerful fairy could read minds and escape death. Conveniently there's one of those missing around here."

Bryce looked at her too, thinking Watch's words over. "I'm not Naia," Amy said to him. "But…"

"You should have chosen a better story. A better form," Watch went on. He was showing a rare flash of anger, but was attempting to hide it shallowly beneath a cool exterior. "Why would Ann Templeton bring you here?"

Amy swallowed thickly. "Because she knew my wish before I made it. Because she knew you would be in danger," she said. "Why would she do anything for a stranger like me?"

"Ann Templeton gave you a wish?" Bryce asked in surprise.

"You wished to be immortal…" Tira realized.

Amy looked at her hesitantly. "I'd rather not say," she said, looking back at Watch, who was mulling that over in his head. There was a long awkward silence.

"I'm not Naia," Amy repeated softly. "But I am thinking Ann Templeton brought me here for more than saving you this one time, and I'm sorry but I don't know why yet," she paused and looked at Watch again who, for once, was the one staring at the ground. "What will it take for me to convince you?"

But Watch remained silent. Tira stood up as well and clasped his hand almost as if she were afraid he wasn't actually there. He looked at her. "The reservoir's not too far from here," she said. "Naia's close by."

Her eyes… Watch smiled faintly. He'd worry about Amy later. He looked over at her though; she was still kneeling. Their eyes met cautiously. "Thank you, for saving my life," he said.

Amy nodded softly as he and Tira turned toward the east once more.

"Let's go," Watch heard Bryce say. He was helping Amy up.

There was a brief silence.

"You're not OK, are you?"

Tira and Watch stopped and turned around. Bryce was kneeling in front of Amy who was staring at the ground, fists clenched. She looked even paler than she seemed to normally be.

Amy's eyes darted upwards at him. "No, I'm fine," she insisted. She smiled pathetically and started to push herself up, but Bryce had to practically lift her full body weight to get her into a standing position.

Watch looked at Bryce and vice versa. "I'm not used to all this walking," she told them as she noticed the look.

Despite their theories about Amy's health, the four of them continued their walk to the reservoir once again. After only a few minutes the trees had begun to noticeably thin out. In fact, they could even walk in pairs now; Bryce used the opportunity to get Watch alone.

"She must have lost a lot of blood."

Watch glanced behind him – Tira was walking with her. "I wonder why she would make that wish," he said simply.

"Watch…" Bryce said, reminding him of the situation at hand.

"I know," Watch told him. "It's a serious injury, not even taking into account the blood loss. She needs rest, but it's not like we can leave her here by herself while we go track down Naia."

"So you believe her then?" Bryce asked with a trace of annoyance. Watch just shrugged. "Was that why you were acting so weird today – thinking Amy was Naia?"

He nodded very slightly. "We should stop and let her rest for a while," he said, changing the subject. "I have a feeling that crossing the reservoir to the caves is going to be tough."

Bryce winced. "I'm sorry," he said. "I insisted we go this way and I got two people wounded. You both could have died. If Ann hadn't granted Amy that wish…."

"Don't worry about it – the regular pathway is probably many times more dangerous, like you said before," Watch said, attempting to ease Bryce's guilt.

Bryce got quiet. "Of course I'm going to worry about it."

Meanwhile, Amy had finally gotten to talk to Tira.

"I hope you don't think badly of Watch – he's been acting a little off today," Tira said, staring ahead at him.

Amy shook her head. "No, my appearance here is really weird," she sympathized. "I can't help feeling Ann Templeton had more planned out than this though."

"That would be wise to consider," Tira advised. She touched Amy's shoulder. "Thank you for saving Watch," she said softly. For a moment it looked as though she would cry, but Tira composed herself. She looked off into the forest. "How come you weren't there when Watch woke up in the clearing?"

Amy looked at her, taking note of her suspicion. "I woke up before him," she began. "I wandered out of the clearing hoping to find the gun, but I passed out again. I guess he didn't notice me when he became conscious."

Tira studied Amy. Her pasty complexion. Her heavy eyelids. "How are you doing?" she then asked.

"I'm fine," Amy lied. She could do with a long rest. Maybe a transfusion or three. "I could do with a shower," she said instead.

Tira hesitated, but didn't say anything else.

After a few more minutes, the boys stopped. "Break time," Bryce announced, taking off his backpack and pulling out some bottles of water. Handing them each one, he then plopped down beside Watch and Tira who sat on the ground, leaning against a fallen trunk. He opened his own. It was with a lot of coaxing that they convinced Amy to join them. She was obviously in pain and moving made it worse, but she needed to rest a little before the coming trial. They all needed to relax.

"She's already asleep?" Watch asked.

"Yeah," Bryce said, looking over at her. His face clouded over. "What a horrible wish," he whispered.

"I wonder if Ms. Templeton didn't warn her about the consequences," Tira said carefully, aware of Watch's feelings about the town witch; but he didn't defend her this time.

"I just want to know why she's here," Watch muttered.

"You still think she's Naia, don't you?" Bryce asked irritably.

"I just don't understand why Ann would bring her here and at this time," Watch explained. "Let's just get some rest."

Bryce started to settle down, but he thought better of it. "Why are you clinging on to your theory?" he asked, believing Watch wasn't sharing everything. "What's wrong with the alternative?"

Watch stared at him. "Let's just get some rest," he repeated.

Bryce was right in believing.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Not comfortable with walking any closer, Adam crouched down beside a tree that stood about thirty feet from the gate that led out of Jarethcomb. There were the horses they had heard; they were standing around with riders on their backs. There was no mistaking Van de Ryn's presence: he had to be the one so gaudily dressed – in plum cody pants and an extravagant velvet riding-jacket. Quite simply, he looked pompous, and a little like an over-sized eggplant. He was currently talking to his men.

"This was a good day, sirs. And tomorrow will be great. Tomorrow," the purple-suited man announced proudly, "we will succeed in getting this land, and we will share in the wealth this place holds! The tribunal is in the 'morrow, Gentlemen. Goodnight."

At this he nodded, dismissing his men save an older one in a blue cape.

Once the others had exited the gate and galloped off, Van de Ryn turned sharply to the man and leaned in. "What do you mean there's a problem?" he hissed.

The elderly man smoothed his thick, grey beard. "I sensed a great surge of power here last night in my meditations," he said pensively.

At this Van de Ryn sat back and stared wearily at him. "Did anything actually happen, or are you just being your usual, dramatic, senile self?"

The other man looked at him sternly. "I told you that woman has powers, Duke Van de Ryn," he said. "And I warned you about that black rock – that it has mysterious properties."

The duke turned red. He stiffened. "First and foremost, Gadley, she is _no_ woman – she is fairy, a resource, like a beaver pelt," he seethed, gripping his horse's reins so hard that his leather gloves groaned. Adam was starting to fully understand the situation that the creatures of this land were in. "So what did she do?" he asked.

The old man sighed, staring off into the distance. Adam figured he was trying to figure out the best way to break the news. "I can… no longer sense her presence… in this world," he said choppily. "But I feel something much greater – I believe it is coming from the rock…"

"What does that even mean?!" The Duke exclaimed. "You're so vague – are you good for anything other than your initial information contribution?"

But the old man was not listening to Van's questions, albeit they were most likely rhetorical. The apparent wizard was staring in fear at the harbingers and with them possessed inhabitants of Spooksville that had made their way through the Secret Path and were now making their way toward them. Adam was alarmed at the sight of the townsfolk – the squirrel creatures had dug their spiny little fingers into the their heads, riding on the innocents' blood-splattered shoulders. He recognized one person as being his old history teacher, Mr. Ferdinand – a tough lecturer and an even tougher marker, but Adam had considered him fair. This was not common in the Horror Halls.

Before Adam decided to react, the pathetic excuse for a human kicked Gadley off his horse, sending him to the ground as a distraction, an offering, to the creatures. "Hey!" Adam shouted, jumping from his hiding spot.

Shocked to find that someone had been listening in, Van de Ryn pulled on the horse's reins in surprise. The animal reared, almost sending the bastard flying, but he regained control and sped off, much like the old man's horse.

Turning his attention to the old man, Adam ran over to help him away from the harbingers. "Hold on. Stay away!" he commanded the angry creatures, remembering they were intelligent. He waved his one hand at the harbingers who held back, and with the other, he grasped the shaking man's hand. "You need to get up, mister."

"Adam!" he heard the two girls call simultaneously. He turned toward the forest, seeing that the girls had been grabbed by some possessed people they knew from school – including Ted Tane, who had been none other than the one to turn Cindy in a vampire four years ago. The harbinger peering over his head looked especially nasty with its exceptional size and yellow eyes. The group moved close. Ted had the lead.

"Step a way, boy," Ted said, gripping Cindy's arm. "We know you are trying to help, but this man will not be saved by your efforts."

"Like hell," Adam said, getting ready to pull the quivering man to his feet.

Sally didn't like that response. "Uh, hi. Remember us? Your friends?" she asked. "Not the best time for organizing your priorities, but it would be much appreciated, Adam."

He looked to the girls pleadingly. "I can't just let them take him," he said.

"Help me," the old man whispered imploringly from the ground.

Ted took a step forward, with Cindy in tow. "We will just control him for a time," he explained, saying each word clearly and separately. "He contains some thing use full."

Adam stared at him, and then glanced at the old man who seemed to have calmed himself. He had begun to pray or meditate, or something. "I can't let you – I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let you," he said, shaking his head.

Harbingered Ted took another step with Cindy. "Adam…"

But he shook his head again. "There are better ways than this. Let us –"

Suddenly Ted flung Cindy to the ground and then tackled Adam in seemingly one movement. He thought he saw Sally rush to her aid. He definitely heard the old wizard start to scream.

Most of Adam's attention was preoccupied at that instant though. The wrestle to the ground had knocked the wind out of him. But he continued to struggle against Ted's superhuman strength. Ted then decided that holding Adam down wasn't a viable option. So he punched him in the face and hit him in the throat.

"Adam!" one of the girls screamed. Ted stepped away from him. It was so hard to breathe; it still felt as though Ted's fist was still pushing down on his throat. Adam flopped over on his right to breathe easier, but he exposed himself to the sight of the harbingers taking their revenge out on the old man. The wizard was flailing – convulsing – with all his might, in pain, trying to defend himself as a bunch of the creatures jabbed their long fingers into his body. His screams were of pure terror. He knew he was dying a horrible, agonizing death.

Adam squeezed his eyes shut, unable to instruct the girls to do the same. It was only a few seconds more when the man suddenly stopped screaming. But it continued to replay in Adam's head.

It must have only been half a minute, but it felt like an eternity, before the girls came up to him and helped him to stand. Still struggling for air, Sally and Cindy had to drag Adam out of the gates. Ted, Mr. Ferdinand and the others were already gone. The three of them collapsed against the fence, and other than Cindy's faint crying, they sat in silence for a good long time.

Adam, always a lot more conscientious of others than he was of himself, was the first to act.

"We need to go," he whispered.

Cindy glanced vaguely in his direction. "We just saw someone die," she muttered absently.

"Murdered," Sally corrected, lifting her head from her knees. "I don't suppose that it was the Van guy?"

Adam shook his head. "A wizard, I think," he breathed. "The guy we're looking for kicked that man off his horse."

"But that old man worked for him, right?" Cindy realized, wiping the last of her tears away. "Those squirrels won't do that to everyone."

"That doesn't mean we're off the hook," Sally said. "We still need to stop Van de Ryn from building his shops."

"No," Adam said quickly. "This isn't about buildings."

"Then what?" Cindy asked.

"They knew about Naia," Adam explained. "And Van de Ryn has a pretty good idea about the Secret Path."

"Great," Sally scoffed, standing up. "Because this wasn't complicated as it was."

"We just need to do what we do," Adam said. He stood as well. Cindy followed.

"We'll have to find a stream or something, Adam," Cindy observed. "You can't walk into a town looking like that."

He looked down, noticing for the first time that he had been splattered in blood. Adam heard the scream again.

He closed his eyes.

Adam, Sally, and Cindy were not making good time. It was fully understandable considering what they had just witnessed though. Despite living in Spooksville, none of them had ever seen someone die so savagely, and traveling to Aulora could mean seeing more of that, so the three of them slowed to a snail's pace.

"I'm really worried about the others," Cindy spoke up.

"They can hold their own," Adam reassured her.

"Things are a lot different this time though," Sally said. "Bryce was almost choked to death, that old guy was just stabbed to death, and you took a few hits yourself, Adam."

"Not to mention the emergence of yet another, most likely dangerous, stranger," Cindy grumbled.

Adam sighed. "Don't you start too."

"I'm not starting, I said it from the beginning," she argued.

Sally waved her hand. "As did I – for the record."

"They can take care of themselves," Adam repeated himself, although he was worried as well. He quickly changed the subject. "I think we should track down the tribunal Duke Van de Ryn was talking about. From what Saline said no one's supposed to know about Naia, so we can use any info we have about her to get their attention."

"That sounds like a recipe for an execution," Sally criticized. "Wouldn't they just get testy finding out that some punk kids know a government secret?"

"Well, what else should we do?" Adam asked. "Do you want to reason with authorities, or the psycho that left his partner as an offering to those reptiles?"

"Touché," Sally said.

"Hey there's a pathway over there," Cindy said pointing to their right.

The trees were a lot smaller in this area, Adam observed. This probably meant that the town was close by because the older, taller trees would have been cut down to build it. Nevertheless the scenery was still beautiful. Despite the darkness of their journey, nature had taken no notice of it; the red leaves and bright sun showered them in warmth.

"Welcome to Aulora," Sally read as they passed the sign marking the edge of town.

Suddenly there was a distant blood-curdling scream.

"Dammit," Adam cursed, feeling guilty for not racing to the town. Who knew what the harbingers would do to the Auloreans.

The three of them ran out of the forest and found themselves beside a field of corn. In the distance there was a farm and a house. And group of harbingers.

"I really wish these creatures would cut us some slack – seeing as though we're a little out of practice," Sally managed to get out as they ran. She kept up with Adam. Cindy trailed a little behind.

"Agreed," she gasped.

It seemed as though the harbingers waited for them. As the three of them approached, there some of them remained – staring right back at them. Adam looked around for a body, but there, on the porch of the house, an elderly woman sat quivering with a musket in hand. She seemed to be in shock; thankfully the gun was pointed at the ground. Adam's eyes slide from her to the band of harbingers. He wondered what they had in mind.

The door of the farmstead opened just then. Ted and the other townsfolk currently being mind-controlled by Naia's little gang stepped out and joined them all in the front lawn. One of them took the woman's gun. Ted was clearly their leader.

"Human bodies seem to need so much sustenance – it is a wonder you lot get any thing done at all," he noted, wiping his mouth of water. He looked to the creatures just behind him and then turned back to Adam, Sally and Cindy. "You three seem determined to help – it is who that is under scrutiny," he explained, waiting for them to explain themselves in turn.

"Jarethcomb," Adam answered. "That duke has no right to your land, or to Naia."

Ted cocked his head, and stepped forward. "What?"

Adam froze. He thought they knew already. "Th-the duke and his interest in Naia," he said softly.

"And how is that you came upon that information?"

Adam looked to the girls. They each shared uneasy glances. "I overheard him and that old man you murdered," he said. Ted nodded his head.

"Saline did say you could be trusted," Ted said. "But we could not tell her or anyone else of Jarethcomb about the duke's main interest – they would wage war, and many creatures would die."

Adam breathed a sigh of relief. "We want to do this without bloodshed. We're going to the tribunal that I believe is hearing Van de Ryn's arguments tomorrow. We're telling them what he's up to; he won't get Jarethcomb. They'll make him stop," Adam explained.

"Oh?" Ted asked – a look of impatience on his face. "And will that get us all equality? Will that guarantee this will not happen again?"


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Bryce touched his throat. "My voice…" he said slowly.

Watch, Bryce, Tira, and Amy had rested only forty minutes. Once the alarm sounded on one of Watch's watches, signaling them to awaken, Bryce soon found he had mysteriously healed.

"The bruising is gone too…" Tira noted suspiciously.

From the far side of the log that the four of them had rested against, Amy explained. "My blood," she said.

"…It's part of your wish," Bryce realised. "How you're immortal. I helped bandage your wrist and came into contact with your blood."

Tira turned to Watch. "You did too. Have you noticed anything?"

Watch had. When Amy was shot with the arrow, he had been covered in her blood. Once he awoke in the clearing and replaced his glasses, he noticed the prescription was suddenly too strong. Amy's blood, to a degree, had repaired his eyesight – something he was notoriously sensitive about. That he had only rarely let Ann Templeton help him with it did not bode well for Amy.

But for now Watch paused. Then shrugged. "We should really go now," he said, looking at a watch.

And they did. It was imperative they find Naia more than ever considering the troubles they had with the foreign creatures. Bryce, Watch, and Tira were experienced in the paranormal and yet they had almost met death quite a few times that day. They could only hope the townspeople were faring better, but it seemed unlikely. It was the most dangerous threat the town had faced in a long time. If not ever.

The four of them reached the edge of the forest in less than ten minutes. Beyond the trees, other than a few patches of grass, there was nothing growing – dirt and gravel surrounded the town's reservoir. This had always given rise to Sally's belief the water was poisonous, and given that it was also grey in colour, it seemed likely despite the fact Watch had drank from it once. Nevertheless, it was surprising that there were far fewer creatures by the water than they had expected. The reservoir was the largest body of fresh water for miles. There were no harbingers, and none of those zombie-resembling creatures; just a handful of little animals that looked something like possums, and some of those giant butterflies that they had come across on the way to the grocery store. After quickly surveying the scene, Bryce spoke.

"I suppose we want to go towards the glow," he said. There was no need to point to what he meant. At the south end of the reservoir, where a path led over a few hills and through the forest to some caves, there was a piercing red light – presumably coming from one of the rock formations. Since Saline had told them Naia preferred caves, this was likely. They began their trek out of the forest and toward them.

"Shouldn't we have a plan?" Tira asked, voicing one of their major concerns.

"The last fairy I ran into just made Adam, Sally, Cindy, and I invisible," Watch said. "It was a minor spell to get back at us for drinking fairy water. Fairies aren't even supposed to be as powerful as Naia is rumoured to be."

"Well, 'fairy' is just a word," Bryce said thoughtfully. "Some words that are used in two different languages on our earth, or even two different countries with the same language don't have the same meaning, so definitions can't possibly be expected to transcend inter-dimensional portals. It's quite possible that Naia is actually what we call a witch. It would explain her apparent powers."

"Thinking of it that way makes our situation seem all the more dangerous," Tira said worriedly.

"It does," Watch agreed.

They decided to just walk into the cave and reason with the fairy, or witch, or whatever Naia was. It was really the only thing they could do because none of them had the power to send the Jarethcomb creatures home and then close the Secret Path, which was being held open. As a precaution, however, Bryce made sure the laser pistol was at hand.

Though Watch told them to be on guard, the small possum-like animals turned out to be as harmless as they looked. They ran away to hide in the forest as Tira, Watch, Bryce, and Amy approached them. This was the first time something had gone their way that day and they all hoped it would be a pattern to its end.

Once they reached the top of the first hill, they found that the red light seemed to be coming from every direction. It soaked into their skin, their hair, every leaf, every trunk. As they approached the cave, the red light slowly began to fade. No doubt it was supernatural. In its place a questionable smell began to escalate.

The cave they were looking for was set a hill back from the Haunted Cave, which had been created from lava. Set higher up, Naia's supposed hideaway turned out to be created by boulders that must have been deposited during the last ice age. The opening of the cave was narrow, so each of them had to squeeze in.

Though sunlight dappled through the openings between the boulders above them, the light was dim. Fortunately, the cave was shallow, and a woman was sitting towards the back of it, meditating under a soft beam of sunlight and the mess of her bright red hair. In front of her sat a bowl with mush, and varying plants and bottles of different sizes and colours. This is where the stench resonated.

"Naia?" Bryce called. The woman opened her eyes. Then frowned.

"Who are you?"

Watch spoke carefully. "We're from the town down there," he began, pointing north. "We thought we could be of help. Saline told us where you'd be."

But Naia remained silent. She just stared at them.

"We are quite resourceful," Bryce offered.

"I can see that," Naia waved off. "Your auras."

There was an awkward pause then. Naia continued staring at them. The four of them stared at one another.

"So…can we be of assistance?" Bryce asked. "I mean both our worlds are in trouble."

"It is the lilais's fight," Naia said. "Ask them."

Watch was taken back. "But you brought them here – you brought all the creatures from Jarethcomb here. You even changed the Lilais into the Harbingers that are ravaging both dimensions. Both our dimensions will be damaged. Maybe even destroyed."

"Yes…" Naia said thoughtfully. "I suppose I was a bit angry last night."

"So this isn't about revenge at all – it's just about the shops," Bryce said.

At this, Naia's carefree look faded. "I know that's what I told Jarethcomb, but this is not about revenge for being banished. I once wanted to change human society, but it is pointless – you humans were created to destroy, fight, and taint. You are not worth the effort revenge calls upon.

I do not consider myself banished either. I remain in Jarethcomb because I like it, and I have now left because a man seeks my power. Not so much to build shops."

"Why doesn't Saline know the truth?" Tira asked.

"A fight over magic would be catastrophic, and one that would certainly come about if Jarethcomb knew exactly what is going on," Naia said sternly. "Humans use and build on practical technology, while fairies use advanced natural studies. Those are just the different paths our two races chose.

This man – Duke van de Ryn – he has help. For him to succeed in harnessing my power – it would be like giving the power of life and death to an ill-mannered child. That is plenty of reason to fight."

"So this _is_ your fight," Bryce argued.

"No." She said. "You do not understand. It is too risky for me to be near that man and his associates. I am a fairy. Not a god. I do not snap my fingers and whatever I wish to happen happens. Magic cannot do everything the imagination dreams despite rumours and legends. They could very well be capable of their goals – I may not be able withstand them should we meet."

Slightly disconcerted, Naia stood and walked the short distance to a crack between the boulders. A window overlooking the ocean. If time were not of the essence, the four of them would have been enjoying it as Naia seemed to be. But at this point they were crushed; they had come all this way, gone through all that trouble, and it looked like there would be nothing to show for it. The long silence that followed hung heavy on their shoulders.

"We all almost died getting here," Amy suddenly said. She scoffed. "And you're just going to continue to hide here? We're trying to help. We're not being greedy. We're not looking out for number one."

"Almost?" Naia asked, turning around. She was amused by Amy's first comment.

Again she stared at each of them. It was a stare similar to Ann Templeton's; one that pierced the surface of their skin. "You. You died." She said to Amy as her eyes came to rest on her again. The fairy was not fazed by how she came back from the dead. Naia turned back to the window. "In either case, yes, I am hiding. It does not bruise my ego or my pride to admit that. My reasons are sufficient."

Watch cleared his throat. "We understand the danger," he began, looking sideways at Amy. "But if there is anything that you could do to help us, that would be great. This is a dangerous and complicated matter that we don't know how to resolve. But it needs to be resolved," he reminded her.

Naia continued to stare out at the view. Better at that than them again. "If you walk down to the road back to your village you will find one of your metal carriages. The key is in it. It should get you back to town," she said as though the conversation had lost its amusement. It was certainly finished.

"Nothing?" Bryce asked in disbelief. He shook his head. "Not even advice, or a hint?"

But Naia remained silent. She rested her head against the side of her little rock window. The four of them could only leave.

Tira was the first to speak after they had left the cave. This was not until they had almost reached the reservoir. "I can't believe…" she trailed off. "The nerve of her! She doesn't seem concerned in the least about the damage she's causing."

This angry outburst was certainly a first for Tira, but it was wholly justified after nearly losing her three companions. Even her own life. Watch.

Watch placed a hand on her shoulder. "We always find a solution," he said, trying to give her hope.

"We do," Bryce agreed. "I'm sure Adam, Sally, and Cindy are faring better than we are."

"They better be – a car doesn't solve this harbinger problem. Or the ecosystem problem with these worlds colliding," Tira added.

"Or the problem of our government finding out that other dimensions exist and stripping each place of their resources," Watch added.

It wasn't long before they came across a nice sports car. A hot little number with its nose in some thick bushes. They had been wondering how the fairy drove up there – apparently not well.

Disheartened as they were, the car did little to improve their moods despite the lack of time and effort it would now take to get back to town. Sally, Cindy, and Adam would be long ahead of them in the dimension beyond the Secret Path so to catch up to them would be a long shot. Not to mention that it might take well into the night since Saline had explained quite clearly that Aulora was far. It was currently four o'clock, and although there was no deadline, they all felt they were running over one.

Time, however, was not the only factor. The three of them felt perfectly fine other than requiring a lengthy shower, and both Bryce and Watch probably owed that to Amy's apparent wish and definite healing abilities. Despite her own powerful blood, Amy had been seriously injured and would undoubtedly not be able to make that trip to Aulora. They were not crazy about leaving her somewhere. Not when the harbingers could sense people with abilities that could help their cause.

"As depressing as listing the problems this whole harbinger thing is causing, it does make apparent the gravity of the situation," Bryce said. He hesitated before continuing. He looked in the rearview mirror at Watch and Tira. "I believe we should start thinking about trying to seal the Secret Path."

This got everyone's attention, including the weary Amy. It was a well known fact that Bryce had been not only interested in, but also worked to close the Secret Path permanently since before Adam and Cindy had even heard of their friend. Sally had also listed this goal as the reason for Bryce's disappearance into the demon world back when they were twelve. None of them, however, knew how close he was to knowing how to do so. Of course, if he knew exactly how, it would most likely have been done already.

"I don't think I like that idea," Tira said slowly, clearly having her other three best friends in mind. This was not to say Bryce did not.

"We don't need to like it," Bryce said. He swallowed thickly. "I just don't see how we can fix this. Many townspeople are hurt, maybe dead. The number's most likely still climbing. And what if this leaks out like Watch supposed?"

Watch's stare burned into the back Bryce's head. "I'm tired of how we make all the damn sacrifices," he muttered. "We're not closing the Path. At least not until Cindy, Adam, and Sally come back. I don't care if those emaciated creatures take over the world."

Bryce avoided the rearview mirror now. "Okay," he agreed. His voice barely above a whisper.

Spooksville was now a ghost town. The streets were empty of people; a few cars were abandoned in odd spots. They hadn't decided where to go, but Bryce was heading in the direction of the graveyard.

"Shit!" He suddenly swore. He swerved the car – jarring them all to the left. Once he hit the brakes they jolted forward.

"Is everyone okay?" Bryce asked shakily. He looked to each of them. All their nerves were shot, but they were fine – they had not been going fast. Looking up, the four of them saw what Bryce missed. It was Naia. She was walking toward them.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"He's right, you know," Cindy said.

Adam lifted the heavy knocker and let it go another time. It gave off a frequency that was equivalent to nails on a chalkboard. The three of them stiffened until the sound faded.

"I know," he said. "But nothing can guarantee equality. Especially bloodshed."

They were talking about what the lead harbinger – the one controlling Ted Tane – had said to them last before allowing them on their way. They were having this discussion in front of the gates of Aulora while they were waiting for someone to let them in.

"Well what would happen if that guy got a hold of magical ability?" Sally scoffed. "If he knows how to use the Secret Path that might kill him, but he could do a lot of damage before that happens."

Adam remembered back to what Van de Ryn was capable of. Maybe he deserved….

"No," Adam said. "We can't think like that. No one deserves to die. No one has the right to decide."

"If that were true, we'd never eat meat," Sally muttered.

The little window in the gate swung open then and a middle-aged man peeked out. "State your business."

Adam looked at both the girls and then to the man. "We've come to talk to the tribunal set to meet tomorrow. It's urgent."

"About the forest to the south, yes," the gatekeeper said. His face may have been dull with dirt, but his eyes were sharp, and they studied the teens in weird clothing. He stepped away from the window and slowly opened the bulky wood gate. Directing them in he added: "You'll find the men at the public house – just down the lane way here and to the east."

"Thank you," Cindy said, turning to him.

"But," the man began, "you may also find that the men are reluctant to speak with you. Tensions have been running high over the southern forest. Unsettling rumors have been circling."

"I think they'll want to talk with us," Sally said confidently.

The gatekeeper just nodded as they turned and left.

"I'm not sure about that guy," Cindy said once they were out of hearing range.

"I'm not sure about leaving this dimension without getting the plague," Sally said, eyeing the rats that were scurrying around the narrow street. The stench of a village full of people devoid of hygienics was overwhelming.

Adam brushed past a man in filthy rags and fought not to gag. "What's a public house anyway?" he asked sheepishly.

"A pub," Cindy told him. She was covering her nose and mouth.

It took only a couple of minutes to reach the small decrepit building. Wasting no time, they walked into the dark, crowded place and announced their arrival.

"We're looking for the tribunal," Sally said, looking around the room. Adam thought they should be more subtle than that, but they were awfully tight on time. The harbingers gave them an hour before they would take action themselves.

Everyone stopped their drinking, talking, and outlandish behaviour, and turned to them – the curious young people in clean, foreign clothing. At the far end of the bar an overweight man with grey hair and red complexion turned to them lazily and then stood. The table he was sitting at with friends was full of crudely made metal mugs – probably empty from the looks of everyone's faces. The men he was sitting with looked at them with disinterest.

"I am of the tribunal – Daffyd. We are convening tomorrow – you can say your piece then," he said, waving them off.

"Sir, you don't have until tomorrow," Adam said.

"And what does that mean?" Another man asked at the table.

"Well, we have information that is of interest," Sally told them vaguely.

The second man laughed. "What could foreigners know of this village's matters?" he said.

"Naia," Cindy blurted out.

The entire table stood up then. Their faces grew red. Well, more red. The rest of the bar remained silent spectators. Personally, Adam thought that it may not have been wise for Cindy to cut to the chase so suddenly, but it was done.

"You will come upstairs with us," the old man ordered, pointing to a dark hall to his right.

Adam, Cindy, and Sally shared uneasy glances, but they each ascended the steps to a room with a large table. The three of them silently prayed that everything would go alright. Adam felt confident that reason would work.

"And exactly how much do you know of Naia?" the old man, the leader, asked them sternly as soon as the door was shut. Adam felt this was a loaded question – that any answer would be a disadvantage. But he answered honestly.

"Everything," he said. "The job, her being a fairy, the banishment to the forest…."

Daffyd nodded. "I see," he said. He smoothed his beard. "And where did you find such information?"

Sally sat down in a chair. "The creatures of the forest," she explained. "They also told us about Van de Ryn and how he wants control of the land."

Another of the men spoke up. "Yeah? Well, this is all knowledge we had before. Except there are more people than we thought who knew of that damn creature," he said, grabbing the handle of his sword. "Easily fixed."

"Hold, Egan," the elder man ordered.

"Yeah," Sally echoed. "We haven't told you the best part."

"We've discovered," Adam began, "that he's not interested in the land. He knows about Naia, and her power, and he wants to exploit her."

The room was in an uproar then. The tribunal yelled at the three of them and at one another. They yelled about who's fault it was, and that it couldn't be true.

"Quiet. Quiet!" Daffyd yelled over them all. Though the sound slowly faded, the tension remained thick.

"That's a serious allegation," the second man warned them. "Using magic carries a heavy penalty."

"He's got a group of men," Cindy said. "At least one wizard."

"Though that man, Gadley, was murdered almost two hours ago," Adam added.

The room erupted into talking again.

"Quiet!" Daffyd shouted. "I will not ask again." He sat down as well and tapped the table nervously. "You must understand that Gadley is known as a great wizard. This is also a serious accusation," he explained to them. "How was he killed?"

"That would be another thing," Adam said slowly. "Some creatures in the forest have decided to take a stand. They killed him after Duke van de Ryn kicked him to the ground to save himself. These creatures are heading for your town now and they're controlling the bodies of people from our own village."

"We'll kill every blasted one of them!" a man in a tattered blue velvet jacket yelled.

"Yes!" cried some of the men, heading for the door. But not Daffyd.

"Don't you get that that's not going to do anything?" Cindy asked in exasperation. "Have you not seen the forest lately? It's dying because that duke has been trying to drive Naia out of there with magic. Be constructive and go deal with _him_!"

Daffyd cleared his throat. Tapped his fingers on the table. "She's right. Why do we jump at the chance to blame the creatures of the forest? Naia was always more pleasant then that silly duke, and yet it is he who remains in this village," he said. "I will trust these foreigner's words because the duke is just the sort to do this – Van de Ryn has snuck around and broken the most serious of our laws. And he's now turned a terrible power on this village."

"I agree," one of the men said. "He's the root of this weed, a thorn in this town's side. And not just now – he's been doing this to us all since he was old enough to scheme."

"I saw him heading home not a half hour ago," another man offered.

Daffyd nodded. "Go there. Arrest him. There will be a trial instead of a tribunal."

"Now just hold on," the man in the blue jacket said angrily. "You can't get to the root without first pulling the whole plant. Those weeds from the southern forest need to pay for thinking of taking us on."

Sally scoffed from her seat. "I'm sure they're thinking the exact same thing," she said.

But no one had a chance to challenge Sally's observation. Another man burst into the room then.

"Chief Daffyd, the town's being attacked by snake-skinned rodents and people in strange clothing," he said exasperatedly. "The villagers have begun to arm themselves, but we need direction!"

"Don't attack them," Adam said quickly. "Those people are from our village. They don't have control over themselves - those rodents can control a human's mind. Please…."

"Hold them off," Daffyd looked at Adam sternly and then to the man that had burst in. "Only attack as a last resort." He turned to the other men. "Help fortify the walls. Egan, Devlin, you will accompany these three foreigners to get Van de Ryn."

"Sir, we may have spoke with those creatures earlier, but I don't think they will spare van de Ryn's life if we ask them," Cindy explained.

"Yeah. They are seriously pissed off," Sally added.

"Well, if they're as intelligent as they claim they will want him to live a long life," Daffyd said. "All the more longer to suffer for his crimes."

"I don't know about this," Adam whispered. "The duke either gets stabbed to death, or rots in jail."

"No, I'm sure they'll take him out to torture him," Sally said.

Adam, Sally, and Cindy were headed for a secret exit out of Aulora with two members of the former tribunal. Adam wondered if the men would now be jurors. At least he hoped there would be jurors while trying Van de Ryn.

"The more pressing issue is whether the harbingers will turn on us," Cindy said. "It hasn't been an hour yet and they're attacking. They promised us an hour."

"Through there," Egan instructed. He tossed Sally some keys for the lock on the small door in the fence.

"You're the ones with the swords – you go first," Sally told them.

But the three of them were made to go. Luckily there didn't seem to be any harbingers around.

"Van de Ryn's farmstead is close," Egan said.

"Yeah, the coward doesn't like to run too far for safety," the other man cracked.

Egan ignored him. "Through those trees," he pointed. "You can see the very top of the chimney."

Though danger was probable because the three of them were usually in it, they hurried toward the house. They might be able to beat the harbingers to Van de Ryn's house if the creatures weren't aware of where he lived.

"Ted, stop!" Adam shouted.

As they made their way through the last of the trees, they realised they had not made it there before the harbingers.

"Ted, take the sword away," Cindy pled.

He did. The harbinger controlling Ted Tane stepped back from Van de Ryn who lay trembling on his front steps. When Egan and Devlin drew the swords, the lead harbinger held his sword back to the duke's throat.

"Come to rescue this fiend?" he asked, smiling.

"I wouldn't say 'rescue,'" Sally corrected him. "More like relocating him."

"The chief of Aulora wants him arrested," Cindy explained. "So you don't need to hurt anyone else."

He smiled wider. "Oh, you people are taking the moral high road, are you? Justice and all that?" He and the harbingers with him chuckled through their hosts. "You Auloreans are going to justify coming after us now. We are not stupid. We will be making sure you learn all about justice. We-" The lead harbinger suddenly stopped. A shudder went through his body. His eyes lost their fire.

"Ted?" Adam said.

"No thing," he said incorrectly, regaining his composure. "This man will die by my hand. And the rest of you will by my comrades'."

"I don't know," Sally said. "The chief is keen on torture for that one," she explained, pointing to the tear-stained Van de Ryn. "A lucrative offer if I don't say so myself."

"Shut up!" the lead harbinger screamed. "Shut up." He swung his sword toward them now.

Suddenly screams rose from the town. Screams of pure terror. Adam was once again reminded of the murder he witnessed.

"What the hell's your problem?!" Adam yelled at creature on Ted's shoulders. "Both you and these humans claim you're intelligent beings but I have yet to see how either of you are," he said angrily. He then pointed to Van de Ryn. "This man will be dealt with which is what you wanted, but both torture and killing are barbaric. And that makes you just as bad as the humans you hate," he spat.

"How dare you compare us," the harbinger seethed. Adam took notice of how his hand shook, though the creature tried to hide it by burying the tip of the sword in the ground. "Kill them," he instructed his fellow creatures.

There was a pause before they started moving. And as each of the harbingers took a step with the human bodies, they dropped to the ground. Ted then crumpled as well.

There was also a pause before anyone spoke. "What just happened?" Cindy asked.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Are you sure that using basil as a substitute is O.K.?" Bryce asked, handing the leaves to Naia.

"No, but won't it be fun to find out?" Naia chuckled. Using one of the tombstones as a table, Naia placed the basil into the mortar with some other ingredients. They had all agreed that the graveyard was the best location for what they were about to do and they headed there after picking up some items. The dark weather, however, certainly made the cemetery an undesirable place to be. At least it had yet to rain.

The stench from Naia's cave and bowl turned out to be a spell. The fairy had sent someone from Jarethcomb to gather supplies, but like the rest of the creatures was most likely running wild in Spooksville. Instead, Bryce, Watch, and Tira helped the fairy with her spell while Amy rested nearby.

"From the ingredients we got, this just seems to be a recipe for a sauce. How can this be a spell?" Watch asked.

"This recipe is not the spell. It enables me to cast the spell," Naia explained, handing the pestle to Bryce. "Concentration is important and this mixture will greatly help to open my mind and strengthen its abilities."

"I see," Watch said. "They have discovered in our dimension that there are different levels of consciousness. A person's brain waves are strongest when daydreaming – I imagine your recipe somehow induces that.

"Brain waves?" Naia asked, pushing back her red hair again. "Yes, that sounds correct, though I have not heard it explained that way."

"You were saying that casting magic is science?" Tira asked.

Naia picked one of the red flowers growing in the cemetery and handed it to Bryce to crush. "Yes. My race has developed science to a great degree over centuries. We have also done the same with morality because without it we would destroy the world with our science. The humans of my dimension don't understand that."

"They don't understand that here either," Bryce said, mashing everything in the mortar to paste. "A lot of people are dying from poor judgments about science and technology."

"In my dimension as well," Amy added from her place against a tombstone. "Maybe humans really are programmed to self-destruct."

"Not the most comforting of thoughts," Tira said.

"But the creatures of Jarethcomb are not without their faults," Naia offered. "Just look at what the Lilais are doing. I am afraid the harbingers may attack even me now because we are about to revert them to their true form."

Watch looked at her. "Why do you say that? After they've changed back they should be pretty harmless."

"She doesn't mean before they change back," Tira said, pointing to the cemetery gates where possessed townsfolk stood with harbingers on their shoulders. Now they understood why Naia had instructed Bryce to relock the gate. She knew they would come.

"You could have added 'weapons' to that grocery list of yours," Bryce muttered, handing the mortar to Naia.

"Well I don't want you to hurt them," she said. "You'll do fine," she waved off. "I'll be in the car casting the spell."

"These trees are pretty dry – I don't think the branches will hold out long," Watch said, snapping a small branch off.

Bryce broke another off and handed it to Tira. "I prefer them to using rocks and pieces of tombstone though. These are people from Spooksville after all."

"We'll aim for the creatures," Watch decided. "It'll work best if we work together: one of us can distract while the other two hit from behind. We need to keep close to the car so that they don't stop Naia."

Bryce turned to Amy. "Let's get you into the car," he said, holding out his hand.

"No," she said, taking a hold of his hand. "Just help me up and hand me a branch."

"Being tough like that, you'll fit right in here," Bryce smiled, pulling her to her feet. He handed her the laser pistol instead of a branch though – it would be easier on her wounds if she didn't have to swing with force.

"Here they come," Watch said, tightening his grip on the branch. As oppose to trying to get over the wrought iron gate, the harbingers decided to make their human hosts help one another climb the walls of the cemetery. This way they would be coming from all sides.

"Get back," Watch told the first one that approached them.

"I thought these guys were supposed to be intelligent," Bryce muttered as a few more approached.

One of them stepped within hitting distance. "I suggest you convince Naia to stop," it said through its host.

"We are not done," said another.

"Oh, I'd say you are," Bryce said, swinging his branch to show them he was serious. "You picked the wrong dimension for puppets."

"You will have us starve and be poisoned?" one of them asked.

"It won't be like that," Bryce insisted.

"We have friends in your dimension helping," Tira explained with her weapon still held up. "They won't rest until an acceptable arrangement has been made."

"And can you guarantee we will be safe? That this 'arrangement' will last?" the first harbinger who spoke asked.

"Of course not," Watch told them. "And that will be up to the future to deal with. Hopefully they'll learn from your mistakes here today."

"Hey!" Tira said in surprise. Feeling something claw at her leg, she jumped to the side and found that a harbinger without a host had snuck up behind her. Watch took a swing and launched the reptile towards the back of the graveyard.

That is when the fighting began. Angered by the force Watch used, the harbingers with hosts attacked the four of them. It was alarming how the harbingers multiplied in numbers. While Amy took care of anyone sneaking up from behind, Bryce, Watch, and Tira took care of the rest. They felt very sorry for hitting people they saw on a regular basis, but it was harder to hit the harbingers than they had originally thought.

"Naia!" Bryce called. "Hurry up." He glanced into the car and saw the saucy paste was gone and that the fairy was now meditating.

"Something's happening," Tira assured him. She hit one of the creatures square on the head – it fell off its host. "There's an energy gathering."

"I don't know if we can fight these guys much longer though," Watch said. He was on his third stick. "We should seriously consider Sally's idea about going to fighting classes after this."

Amy squeezed off three shots into the last person. "The gun's dying," she warned them.

"And that would be the cue for a new wave of them to head over the walls," Bryce said, watching more harbingers head toward them. He was also on his third stick. They were running out of the reachable dry, brittle wood.

Watch took the pause between attacks to break more weapons for them to use.

"I know," Bryce exclaimed, picking up pieces of the tree. "Surround the car. We'll create a barrier," he said, holding up a lighter.

The three of them raced to place the wood around the car while Bryce started lighting it. Using Watch's two lighters, he broke them open for the fluid and sprinkled the wood in it.

"Dammit, it's taking too long," Bryce said, sitting back. Suddenly he was smashed against the car. "Argh!" he groaned, realizing a harbinger had reached them and taken the opportunity to kick Bryce in the chest. He couldn't catch his breath. Amy shot the host four times before she went down.

"Just grab a piece of wood quickly," Watch instructed them. Twenty harbingers were about to reach them.

"Riraito shiroi!" Saline shouted. Bryce had not seen her approach, but she must have come from the Secret Path. When he looked over at her, the little fairy had a hand spread on the ground and she was muttering something in another language.

After saying her piece, which Bryce assumed was a spell, she spoke. "I told Adam I'd come find him, but when I was on my way I sensed I would be of more help here," she explained.

Watch ducked as a harbinger and its host approached him and took a swing. The fist bounced away mid-air. Saline had cast a boundary around them and the car.

Tira sighed with relief. "Thank-you for coming," she said. "We've just about reached our limits for the day."

"I knew Naia would be reversing the spell," Saline admitted, sitting cross-legged in her white dress. "I didn't know it would be so soon, but I can see why. Naughty little Lilais."

"I can think of a couple other, more appropriate words for them," Bryce said angrily. He took another deep breath.

Saline chuckled. But it faded quickly. "But down to business," she said. "Someone needs to look at Naia. You need to tell me exactly when she opens her eyes. If I don't remove the barrier soon enough, the energy from her spell may cook us in this bubble."

The four of them stared at her.

"When she opens her eyes, we must all dive to the ground – away from the car – very quickly," Saline instructed further.

Watch stepped over to the passenger side window where the fairy sat. "I'll stand and watch Naia, you guys lay down," he said.

"How much longer should the spell take to cast?" Bryce asked, remaining in his resting position against the car.

Saline closed her eyes. "From the sense I get from the energy gathering here, any second," she said. Her eyes popped open. "Lay down quickly."

Except for Watch, they laid down in the red flowers. They made sure their friend had enough room to drop down quickly.

The harbingers surrounded the barrier now, pounding at it with the gang's former weapons. The four of them worried if they would be safe once the barrier was removed. Then again, roasting to death sounded a bit worse than being bludgeoned.

"Now!" Watch exclaimed, dropping on his stomach.

Saline removed her hand from the ground and placed it back down quickly. Suddenly lightning shot from the dark, cloudy sky above and hit the car Naia was sitting in. The heat that emanated from the vehicle climbed higher and higher, and then, white light shot out spherically from the sports car and heading out in all directions.

All the harbingers and their hosts dropped to the ground.

"Whoa," was all Bryce could muster.


	15. Chapter 15

Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"It's almost hard to be angry at creatures so cute," Cindy commented as she, Sally, and Adam walked through the Secret Path. The Lilais turned out to be squirrel-like in their original form as well, except furry, with floppy ears, and a long, curly fur tail. But their cuteness did not mask their earlier actions.

"I'm not finding it especially difficult," Sally said. "You're just vain."

"That's just rude," Cindy said.

The three of them became concerned as they approached the others.

"Are you guys alright?" Adam asked in alarm. Both Watch and Amy were soaked in blood, and Bryce and Tira were somewhat bloody themselves. As he looked closer, Adam noticed Amy's wrist was bandaged and both hers and Bryce's shirts were torn.

"More or less. It's been a rough adventure," Bryce said, leaving Amy leaning against a red sports car in the middle of the graveyard. That would need some explanation. Adam thought about how they didn't have the money to pay the owner back for damages.

Bryce patted Adam on the shoulder and gave Cindy a hug. "Man, have we got a tale to tell."

"You haven't heard ours," Sally scoffed.

"So it's over?" Cindy asked.

"Naia and Saline are rounding up the last of the creatures and plants," Tira explained, gesturing to the south end of the graveyard. Naia and Saline were both meditating. The bags beside them were full of seeds and uprooted flowers. "So it's over for us. The rest is up to them."

"And what about Van de Ryn?" Watch asked. "I assume Jarethcomb is safe?"

"The duke's in jail and he'll definitely be found guilty at his trial tomorrow," Sally explained. "Good riddance too."

"And for the most part the Aulorean government feels that will fix things," Adam added. He sighed. "But some think that steps should be taken against Jarethcomb as well."

"That's troubling," Watch said.

"I don't think such ideas will be put into action though," Cindy insisted. "The government is being run by a capable man."

"At least for now," Adam muttered. "I feel like we've solved nothing for Jarethcomb."

"Not to depress you further, Adam, but we don't solve a lot of things," Bryce said. "We know there will always be another adventure – another problem that will threaten the world's existence. Or ours."

Sally crossed her arms. "Blowing up a facility full of a shape-shifting race trying to take over the earth seemed to solve something," she argued.

Bryce looked at her. "But you know what I mean," he said. "We can only solve the immediate problem. The future is still going to be full of problems no matter what we do. The Jarethcomb creatures will have to defend themselves again one day."

"Oddly enough that's somewhat comforting," Adam said. "And at the same time horribly depressing."

"Speaking of immediate problems," Sally began. "How are we going to get Ted and company back here?" she chuckled. "And without them finding out about the Secret Path to boot."

"Even if they are still unconscious, there's no way we can drag that dead weight back here through that forest." Cindy said.

Tira lowered her head. "Okay, apparently it's not over for us," she said.

"It never is," Watch said, taking a seat on the barren ground.


End file.
